The Hope Of Oto
by sinisteruto
Summary: Fed up with the lies, deceit, and hate of his home village, Naruto deserts the hidden leaf village and joins forces with Orochimaru thanks to his ally Kabuto. Naru/Yakumo and Harem.
1. Chapter 1

**THE HOPE OF OTO**

**DISCLAIMER: **I do not own Naruto or any other series that I might use for inspiration.

**WARNING: **Slightly AU and slowish build up and harem.

**HAREM: **Yakumo (main pairing), Amaru, Sasame, Isaribi, Karin, Tayuya, Guren.

**Author Notes:**

Alright I know I know I've been scarce in the new year, but I have been busy with a new death note/bleach crossover story that I have been working on and it has kept me busy for a while.

Anyway this is one of my Naruto stories that have been listed as "up and coming" for a while now in my profile and I finally had the guts to begin writting it. Seriously like I already have everything planned for the story but I just didn't know how to begin, yeah I know, wack huh?

Anyway this is a naruto hates konoha story and will carry on like that until the end, If you don't like that kind of story then you really don't have to read.

Now I am going to address an issue. I do not want to read reviews about how cliche it is that Naruto got beatings or assassination attempts on him. Because to me, that's really stupid to say that, it is in fact much more unrealistic for someone to expect things like that not to happen.

In my neighbourhood, a woman was burned alive eight years ago because people in the community **suspected** that she was a witch, **suspected**, they didn't even have absolute proof and they still burned the poor woman to death. Now the people in the Naruto verse **know** that inside Naruto lives a demon that killed their families and that could easily take over him, so wouldn't they have tried to keep their children away from him and/or try to assassinate him or beat him to death. I mean even in canon naruto has lost control many times, like when he almost killed Jiraiya, when he hurt sakura, when he attacked kakashi, and when he lost control against pain, jinchuuriki are dangerous no matter how pure or good they are because of the demon inside them, only a fool really wouldn't try to keep their child as far away as possible from them, unless said child is from a shinobi family, then that is a bit different, since being a shinobi requires that a person tangles with death face to face.

Now some people will say oh but the sandaime made a law and the people wouldn't break the law for fear of imprisonment or death, or they will say that a jounin or A.N.B.U wouldn't attack Naruto and break the law.

If you say so then you should consider the possibility that you have lived a sheltered life and do not know as much as you think you do about real people and real life. Four years ago I read an article in the news paper about a woman in my province who, like the woman who was burned to death in my neighbourhood, was beaten to death by her community because they also believed she was a witch, okay this was slightly different because this woman actually confessed to being a witch but nevertheless people know that it is a crime punishable by life imprisonment or even death to kill, it is a law but a whole community broke that law and killed that woman. The police arrived to stop the assualt, but when they heard that she was a supposed witch, the police officers that were sent allowed the people to continue with the assualt until the woman died, justifying it with claims that they were taught since childhood that a witch must be killed no matter what. This really happened and it was in the front page of the news paper four years ago. If we were to compare this scenario to Naruto then those people would be the civilians and maybe genin and chuunin (people who know next to nothing about seals) and the witch would be Naruto. The Plolice would be the jounin and A.N.B.U who either helped or did nothing out of hate for something they didn't completely understand.

Another one, now this one I read on the news paper only six months ago, in a small town in my country, a policeman was hunting down another man with a spear and a shield in order to kill him because the people of the town believed that the man was a shape shifter. Now we all know that it is a crime to kill someone and especially when said person has harmed no one, but a lice officer was hunting someone with a spear (not his gun) because they believed he was a shapeshifter.

So excuse me if I think it is ridiculous for someone to call me cliche when people of konoha try to assassinate naruto in my fics. The truth of the matter is that people are more then willing to break laws when they are in groups and when they want to get rid of what they consider an abomination.

As for the harem, if you got complaints about the harem and believe that it is unrealistic, then I only have one thing to say to you! My president has five wives, so excuse me for not believing that harems are unrealistic and impossible, especially in the shinobi world that has morally compromising beliefs and way of life.

**CHAPTER 1**

**_Purpose and Rebels_**

_**If you believe that I will ever give up on you then you really have gone mad! What purpose will there be for my existence if I cannot save you from this wretched life, what will I have to live for if I lose you! Yakumo chan, you are the only thing in this world that is real to me, everything else is either an illusion or some kind of eleborate deception, I will not lose my only link to reality, I will not lose my only precious person and be left alone in this world, neither will I allow you to bare the same fate! We will leave this place together and build a life of happiness, peace, and prosperity, this is my promise to you, it is a promise of a lifetime, believe it!**_

"Naruto kun...do you really think we can do it, do you really think we can somehow escape the Sandaime Hokage's A.N.B.U squads? I mean, we're just little kids, we're only six year olds and not very well trained, and...sniff...and that bitch Kurenai sensei and the Hokage sealed away my powers!" Said Yakumo angrily and hatefully, she is a six year old little girl with shoulder length brown hair, teal coloured eyes and white creamy skin. She is wearing a red kimomo that reaches her thighs and hugs them like a mini skirt with black spandex shorts underneath and black ninja sandals.

"Shhhhh...don't cry Yakumo chan, you know I hate it when you don't smile! I promise you we will leave soon, I just have to finalize a few things that's all." Said a six year old Naruto in a placating manner, patting Yakumo at the top of the head gently with his other arm wrapped around her waste. She on the other hand was sitting on his lap with her face burried into his chest, her arms tightly wrapped around his torso, as if he would suddenly disappear if she ever let go of him.

Naruto is a blonde haired six year old boy with deep blue slanted eyes and three whisker like lines on each of his cheeks and longer then average canine teeth that jutt out of his lips that complete his feral appearance. He is dressed in a blue sleeveless T-shirt with black ninja pants and blue ninja sandals.

_"_Y-you promise?" Asked Yakumo hopefully, removing her head from his chest to stare at Naruto with an unintentional and teary puppy eyes technique, pulling the strings painfully deep within the blonde's heart.

"Hai! I promise, I won't go back on my word, besides, I have a plan." Said the blonde, trying to supress the concerned expression on his face, but Yakumo, knowing him too well saw right through it and it made her all the more worried. She knew Naruto kun wouldn't go back on his word and she knew how smart and insightful he was, she had no doubt in her mind that he would figure out a way for them to escape the village, but that was not what worried her. What made her so worried was the fact that Naruto kun was keeping secretes from her lately, he had never kept secretes from her until roughly six months ago, when she first noticed the subtle changes in his behaviour.

She was scared, she suspected that Naruto kun was doing business with some dangerous people that he wasn't telling her about. She'd tried to follow him on a few ocassions but nothing had been done that was out of the ordinary or would cause reason for suspicion, but that was suspicious in itself to her. How could someone with the plans that she and Naruto had not act suspicious at all for a whole week when she was following him, sure this wouldn't be a surprise to someone who didn't know about his plans, but to her, who knew almost everything about him, this was way too suspicious.

"N-Naruto kun...is there something you want to tell me about, is there something you're hiding from me? Sniff...I...I know you've been up to something dangerous, I...I don't want you to suffer because of me, we don't have to leave, we can stay here...sniff...sniff...I don't want us to leave if the sacrifice you make becomes too much, or worse, if I lose you in the process!" Cried Yakumo, burying her tear stained face against his chest.

"Yakumo chan I..."

"Please Naruto Kun, please tell me what's bothering you...I want us to do this together, I want to share the burden with you! Sniff...I don't want you to suffer alone...tell me...tell me what's wrong damn it! Sniff...is it the Kyubi? Is it bothering you? Is it escaping? Just tell me! Please, I want to help sniff sniff!" Cried Yakumo, beating the sides of her fists against Naruto's chest repeatedly in frustration.

_**"**_**Tell her...**" Said an angelic but motherly voice from inside Naruto's head.

_"K-Ka chan? But why, I don't want to worry her, I'm trying to protect her feelings. Didn't you say that I had to protect the heart of someone that I love, if I tell her then..."_

_**"Do not be a fool Naru chan. By keeping secretes from her, you are giving her the impression that she hasn't earned your trust. Do you know how much that must hurt for her, to believe that the person she loves and trusts the most does not feel the same way about her?" **_Replied the voice, scoulding the six year old with a motherly tone.

Naruto's eyes widened in shock. How could he have not thought about that. His mother had warned him about this before, that it was the actions of a person that spoke louder then his words, and sometimes spoke louder then even his thoughts. Just because his intention and thoughts were to protect her and shield her heart from pain didn't mean that it would magically happen if his actions provoked the opposite reaction.

_**"Do not let it bother you too much Naru chan, what is important is that you learn from your mistakes and not repeat them. She has earned our trust already, tell her everything, besides, if we can not trust her, then there is no one that we can ever trust in this cursed world." **_Said the voice in a sage like tone.

"_Kaa chan...arigatou, I will tell her everything, I think it is a good idea, I don't want her to hurt anymore." _Replied the blonde bundle.

"Okay, I will tell you my plans." Said Naruto with a dead serious tone, surprising Yakumo slightly, she hadn't really expected him to cave in so quickly, he was usually stubborn in his views, beliefs, and decisions.

"N-Nani! Y-you will?" Asked Yakumo hopefully.

"Hai, I trust you! Besides, you and I are partners, we have a better chance of success if we work together." Said Naruto, staring at Yakumo blankly.

Yakumo knew that her Naruto kun was serious by the look in his face. She would never admit it but it scared her to no ends when he was like this, because it felt like he didn't have emotions at all when he had that look, he was just cold, almost like a...a killing machine.

"Um...sniff...okay...sniff." Replied Yakumo.

"Alright then, first of all, I am going to show you something, it is a letter from my biological mother. She used a time lapse seal on me just before she died, a seal that would activate when I reached the age of ten, the same age that she and my father graduated the ninja acedemy. But she made provision for the possibility of me graduating earlier then they did, she wanted me to have the gifts she left for me as soon as I was ready to begin my higher level ninja education, she set it up that I would be able to release the seal with my blood and chakra if I was able to discover it before the age of ten. Thanks to meeting Kaa cha um..Kyubi at an early age, I was able to view all of my memories up until the day I was born and thus discovered the seal, and...all my memories that the Sandaime Hokage had sealed away!" Said Naruto with an angry snarl, giving Yakumo a chance to digest the information.

"What! But I thought that you said you had never met your parents, I thought you were an orphan since birth?" Snapped Yakumo with a betrayed expression on her face.

"Yes I did, but I didn't lie to you, that was the truth, I have never met my parents in person and they did die on the day of my birth, that is why my mother put a time lapse seal on me, so that she can comunicate with me and bare me some gifts even from beyond the grave." Explained Naruto.

"Oh! I um...I see...um...what was in the seal...if its not too private?" Asked Yakumo nervously, a small red hue forming on her cheeks from embarrassment.

_'Damn it Yakumo! He probably thinks you're too nosy for your own good, I can't believe I asked him about something so personal!' _Thought Yakumo.

"What was in the seal? I'll do better then tell you, I'll let you read her letter." Said Naruto, causing Yakumo's eyes to widen in surprise again. She didn't expect him to let her read something so...private. She only expected him to give her a brief summary of what was inside the seal.

"What! But...you...um...you don't have to...if you don't want to, its too personal...isn't it?" Asked Yakumo, trying to fight against her own curiosity.

"No, its fine, I want to share this with you, you're the closest thing I have to family, I consider you like that at least, I love you that much." Said Naruto, trying his hardest to resist the blush on his cheeks.

"Um...thank you, I...um...I love you too.." Said Yakumo with a cute blush on her cheeks, averting her eyes from her only friend to hide her embarrassment.

_'Why am I feeling like this, I mean, he's my only precious person, it's alright to tell him that I love him isn't it?' _Thought Yakumo, unable to comprehend the attraction between male and female, maybe because of her young age perhaps.

"Alright then, you remember the scroll with the mind transfer techniques that I gave to you right?" Asked Naruto.

"H-hai, demo... what does this have to do with your mother's seal and letter Naruto kun?" Asked Yakumo with a cute, confused pout.

Naruto, with his mind willed a folded scroll to appear on his hand before handing it over to his best friend. Some might have wondered how someone can just will something into existence, but the truth of the matter was that although their physical contact felt real, there was actually nothing real about it. They were communicating through a modified mind transfer jutsu that Yakumo created for the sole purpose of communicating with her best friend. The jutsu required that her Naruto kun be at least 2 miles within her position, from then on it was a simple matter of her creating a mind link between the two of them, combined with her skill in genjutsu, she could create a mental plain where she and Naruto could communicate with each other as if they were in the physical realm. The jutsu was so good that if a person was not made aware that he or she was inside her jutsu, then it was almost impossible to figure it out, much less break it. The scary part was that she could do this despite her bloodline limit being sealed away, or rather, the mental manifestation of her bloodline limit being sealed away.

"Um...well you see...um, here...this will explain everything to you." Said Naruto, putting the letter into her hand.

_Dear Naruto kun_

_Sochi, my baby, please forgive your Kaa chan! I didn't mean to die on you Naruto kun, I wanted to raise you up myself, I wanted to be there on your first day at the academy, when you first graduated, your first date, and I wanted to be there on your wedding day. It pains my heart to know that I won't be able to be there for you, I can't believe life can be so unfair, but you shouldn't dwell on the past sochi kun, please be a strong boy for mommy, I know you'll grow up to become a very powerful shinobi one day, just like your father._

_Sochi kun, I don't have a lot of time left, you and I are lying together on your crib as I write this letter, the kyubi has been ripped away from me by a man that I believe to be Uchiha Madara. I do not know how he has managed to live this long, but be sure to remember that name and make sure you become strong, he will definately return for the kyubi one day. Your father , he has gone to do battle with him and the kyubi to protect the village, yes sochi, your father is the Yondaime Hokage, Namikaze Minato, it shouldn't be hard for you to figure it out though, you look exactly like him, no one can deny you your heritage, even though we were married under secrecy._

_Sochi, I am going to tell you some important things that you need to be aware of if you are to survive this cruel and harsh ninja world. Sochi, the Kyubi has always been kept by Uzumaki clan, your great ancestor, Uzumaki Mito was the first container, I was the second, and there is no doubt in my mind that your father is going to seal it inside of you._

_Now don't be scared sochi kun, we Uzumaki have very powerful bodies and our chakra reserves are excessively high, far higher then any shinobi family and far more potent. Moreover, our family are the undesputed masters of seals and barriers, these abilities are also crucial in our ability to contain the fox, as we have a very strong affinity to seals and barriers. _

_Sochi, I know the life of a jinchuuriki, it is very harsh, demanding, and heart breaking, sochi kun, I need you to find someone special for yourself, someone to love and treasure, because only pure love can save you from the darkness that is born within a person when they are bonded to a tailed beast. I wish I could have been that person for you Naru chan, but I can't, I'm as good as dead already, I'm already living on borrowed time._

_Naru chan, be careful who you trust, you are the last heir of the great Uzumaki clan and the only son of the Yellow Flash of Konoha, a lot of people will want to attach themselves to you, or use you for various reasons, the ninja world is full of deception and treachery, make sure you have a keen eye Naruto kun, this is not what a normal mother would teach their son, but we are not a normal family, we are a shinobi family, do not give your trust to others freely sochi, be careful, be very careful._

_Do not worry too much though, you will have the strength to match or even surpass your father and I, Kaa chan will make sure of it. I have sealed behind your neck a hidden time lapse storage seal that will be activated when you reach the age of ten, the same age me and your father graduated the academy. But, if you discover this letter before that, then know this, the seal can be revealed and openned by only your blood and chakra. Do not trust anyone with the contents or even the existense of this seal, not even the Hokage, these are family secretes Naruto kun, they should be treasured and kept within the clan and family._

_Inside the seal are all the uzumaki clan seals and barrier techniques that I am aware of and everything about our family and history, dating back to our origin from the sage of the six paths. You will learn more about the sage within those notes and you will learn about our homeland, Ushiogakure no saito._

_I also have a lot of water techniques sealed inside the scroll, our family have a strong affintity to water and we have all the water techniques you can think of, use them wisely Naruto kun. _

_There is also the blood clone and shadow clone techniques inside the scroll. Sochi kun, the shadow clone returns all of its experiences and memories when it is dispelled. This technique was an Uzumaki creation that was inspired by our lack of chakra control in our early years of ninja development. You can use the shadow clone technique to train your chakra control, study sealing arts or any large text of information, and practise your ninjutsu with it, as anything the clone learns will be transfered back to you in the form of photographic memories. _

_Now be careful, this technique is very chakra extensive, although as an Uzumaki, and the son of the great Yondaime Hokage, you wouldn't have to worry too much about your chakra, but be careful of dispelling too many clones at once, especially if you were using them for studying large blocks of text._

_Your father was a specialist of space time techniques and one of his greatest creations was the Hirashin no jutsu, an instant transportation technique that amplifies his speed and reflexes to an unreal level, I have stored all of his space time techniques and seals inside the storage seal, and also his ninjutsu, including the rasengan, these are the techniques that made your father a legend, I have no doubt in my mind that you will one day be able to master them. Your father wanted to create a third level of the Hirashin, maybe you will one day be able to improve it. He also wanted to add a nature element to the rasengan, nevertheless you have in your possession all of his notes, use them wisely._

_Sochi, kaa chan did something illegal, but I did it for you sochi kun, I am sure that it will benefit you in the future, there is no doubt in my mind about it. _

_Naru chan, there is a scroll that is given to the Hokage by the clans of konoha when he takes the position as a form of trust between the village and the clans of the village. The scroll contains all of the techniques of all of the clans inside it. This is done by the clans in order to prove their loyalty to the village and their trust in the Hokage and the village. This also promotes good relations between the two parties. More then that sochi, is that this scroll is also made to ensure the continued existense of the clans. Sometimes, a clan will be destroyed, like our own was destroyed all those years ago, and sometimes clan techniques and information about the clans can be lost during the chaos and destruction. The clans allow the Hokage to keep a scroll of all their techniques so that the little kids who survive the carnage can have access to information and techniques of their clan, the Hokage will make sure that they get a copy of the section of the scroll within his possession that contains the properties of said survivor's clan._

_The clans of Konoha are the Yamanaka clan, the Kurama clan, Uchiha, Hyuga, Aburame,Inuzuka, Akimichi, and the Nara clan. Sochi, I'm not proud of what I have done, but this is the ninja world, a ninja must always use whatever advantage that is given to them, deception, trickery, whatever is neccessary, a ninja must do to achieve their goals. My goal is to protect the people I love sochi kun, and you are the person I love the most, that is why I made copies of the scroll that was entrusted to Minato kun by the clans._

_Your father has an obligation to uphold, he made an oath to them that he would protect their secretes as the Hokage, but I am under no such obligation, for I never made such an oath. Use what I have given you wisely Naruto kun, yes, kaa chan can be quite deceptive and diabolical, but I want what is best for you, I want you to survive and live a long and prosperous life, and I want you to be happy. To do that, you will need a lot of strength, even as a baby, only a few minutes after your birth you were dancing and tangling with life and death, your life will be even harder, but you will pull through, Kaa chan has made sure of it._

_One more thing sochi, I left all of my research and studies of the medical ninja arts, it wasn't my forte, I never took interest in that field until I got married to Minato kun, sochi, us Uzumaki are blessed with longetivity, we can even live up to twice the age of normal human beings, or even shinobi, I didn't want to outlive your father too much, so I delved into the medical field so that I can find a way to prolong his life, but as you can see, I have run out of time myself, but I will leave my research with you, maybe you can find a way to prolong the life of your own special person._

_This is it Naru chan, Minato kun should be back soon, I don't know what is going to happen, but I know he will seal the kyubi inside of you no matter how much I protest, it is his duty as the Hokage, he will no doubt train you well, but should something happen to him, you have the storage seal to help you._

_I love you Naruto kun, Kaa chan loves you so much! Never forget that, ever! No matter what you do, no matter what you become and no matter where you go, never forget my love, I will never forsake you Naruto kun, and make sure you have lots of grandchildren ready for kaa chan to spoil, goodbye...my sochi!_

_Namikaze Uzumaki Kushina_

"Oh Naruto kun! I...I'm so sorry!" Wailed Yakumo, launching herself into the blonde's chest, tears flowing down her cheeks rapidly.

"This is so sad! Why is life so unfair to you, why do all the bad things always have to happen to you! This is so unfair...sniff sniff!" Cried Yakumo, releasing heart breaking sobs from her throat.

"Hey now...don't cry Yakumo chan! I'm fine...really, Kaa chan told me not to dwell on the past, I miss her, I wish I could have been raised by her, but she wanted me to be happy, she sacrificed everything for my happiness and did so much to ensure that I had a chance to survive this world, I won't disappoint her. So please, don't cry, the only thing I want to see is your smile, not your tears!" Begged Naruto, trying to maintain a stoic expression but failing miserably, tears threatening to fall out of his own eyes too. The two children cried in each others arms for fifteen minutes straight, releasing all of their supressed pain and sorrow to each other.

_**"The Ido demon made her kill her own parents, her beloved sensei, who she thought believed in her betrayed her and sealed her powers with the help of the Hokage, the remainder of her family deserted her and wanted nothing to do with her, and she is imprisoned in her own home under constant A.N.B.U watch, and has been denied her dream of becoming a great kunoichi of her clan despite her unhealthy physical condition...all of this and she still cries for you, believing that you have had a far worse life then her...what a strange girl...she didn't even comment on the fact that you are the son of the yondaime hokage." **_Said the Kyubi.

"Sniff...look what you did to me, you...sniff...made me cry, boys aren't supposed to cry...sniff!" Said the blonde in between sobs. Yakumo giggled childishly at her friends attempt to be a man, she couldn't help it, it was so cute.

"Sniff...sorry, I didn't mean to..." Replied Yakumo, unable to supress her laughter. For some strange reason she felt so much better now, almost as if a heavy burden had just been lifted off of her shoulders, she felt so calm and carefree. Naruto laughed with her, he just realised how stupid he must have sounded talking about boys not crying even though he was choking with his own sobs.

_**"You should stop fooling around, how long do you think the girl can hold this jutsu up for?" **_Warned the Kyubi, causing Naruto's eyes to widen slightly.

"Ahem...Yakumo chan, I have to tell you something important before we run out of time." Said Naruto, wiping away the tears from his face with a serious expression.

Yakumo, realising that her Naru kun wasn't playing around anymore adopted her own serious expression.

"What is it Naruto kun?" Asked Yakumo.

"Yakumo, I have already a way for us to not only escape the village, but to stay safe and receive proper training until we are ready to take on the Hidden Leaf Village." Said Naruto with a serious expression.

Yakumo's eyes widened in awe and surprise, and a little happiness too.

"Sugoi! How...how did you do it?" Asked Yakumo with childish curiosity.

"I have been collaborating with an older boy by the name Yakushi Kabuto for quite a while now, I met him on the same day that I met Kaa chan...I mean Kyubi. He is the adopted son of the best medical ninja currently living in the village. Together with my mother's research that I have, and his knowledge, we have come up with a possible cure for your physical condition." Explained Naruto, causing Yakumo's eyes to widen in disbelief and happiness.

"B-but how? You didn't even examine me or take any blood samples? And what has this cure got to do with our escape, not that I'm not greatful off course!" Asked Yakumo, not able to believe what to her was too good to be true. She didn't know much about medical stuff, but she had been through so many tests and examinations in her life of imprisonment that it was impossible for her not to at least know enough to question Naruto about a few things.

"True, but Kabuto was able to get access to all of the data on you that has been collected by the village, including blood samples amongst other things. We were able to make a diagnosis and come up with a cure, although Kabuto did most of the work. I also found out that Kabuto is not a loyal Konoha shinobi, he is a spy that answers directly to Orochimaru Of The Densetsu no Sannin, if you didn't know, Orochimaru is a rogue shinobi that deserted the Hidden Leaf. But what most people do not know, is that he has his own hidden village, Otogakure no saito. Kabuto told me that he has talked to Orochimaru and that he wants us to be a part of his hidden village and unlike Konoha, will not hinder our growth, Orochimaru promises proper training and power if we agree to help him destroy the Hidden Leaf and stay loyal to Oto.." Said Naruto, taking a breathe from his long explanation to give Yakumo a chance to digest the information.

Yakumo didn't know how to feel about this, on the one hand she was very happy that she would not only be cured of her disease, but would also be able to become a proper kunoichi and not have to live in a place she hated so much. But on the other hand, she had heard very bad things about this Orochimaru, the Densetsu no Sannin were the Hokage's students, and she hated the Hokage and didn't trust him at all, so why would she trust his student. Sure he was a missing ninja and hated konoha it seemed just like her, but she didn't like his association with the Hokage one bit.

"I...I don't know Naruto kun, I heard some very bad things about him when my medical observers thought I wasn't conscious. Like I heard that he did cruel experiments on people, and even children!" Said Yakumo. Naruto flinched when Yakumo mentioned experiments and children, causing Yakumo to narrow her eyes at him with a _speak up or die _expression, making the blonde to gulp nervously.

"What is it? Tell me!" Demanded Yakumo ominously.

"Um...you see, I had to agree to an experiment that Orochimaru wants to conduct on me as part of the deal. You see, because of Kaa chan, I am the only one who can survive the experiment, and it will give me a lot of power if the experiment is successful, I will be near invincible, Kaa chan has assured me that she won't let me die though, she thinks...she knows I can survive the experiment!" Said Naruto defensively, the look on his friend's face was too scary for comfort, the last thing he wanted was for her to use her genjutsu on him, he didn't fancy finding out if the Kurama clan's genjutsu could be dispelled by his kaa chan or not.

"What! Are you insane! What on kami's planet made you agree to something so stupid Namikaze Uzumaki Naruto! I'm going to kill you!" Screamed Yakumo, tackling the blonde onto the ground with her hands wrapped around his throat.

"How dare you! What am I going to do if you die huh you selfish bastard! You wana risk your life just for power, why would you do that? I thought you loved me sniff!" Screamed Yakumo furiously. Normally she wouldn't have had enough strength to subdue him, but inside her jutsu, she could do anything she wanted, even overpower him if she wanted to.

_'Damn she must really be mad if she called me by my full name!' _Thought the blonde.

"Ack...can't...breathe..." Wizzed out the blond.

"Why! I knew it was too good to be true!" Said Yakumo, burying her face into Naruto's chest. She couldn't take it, she couldn't risk losing him of all people, not him, anything but that!

"Yakumo chan...do you trust me?" Asked Naruto simply, having regained his breathe after the petite girl's assualt on his person.

"H-hai, I trust you Naruto kun.." Said Yakumo.

"Then believe me when I say that I won't die on you. We're going to leave this place together, I am going to survive Orochimaru san's experiment, and we are going to heal you and unseal your true power. We will get our vengence, for you and for me, and we will live in a village where our talents and abilities will be appreciated. I promise, please believe in me, Yakumo chan..." Said Naruto, his arms wrapped around the petite girl who was snuggled on top of him.

"You promise...you promise you won't die and leave me alone?" Asked Yakumo with a cute teary eyed pout.

"Hai, I promise!" Said Naruto with a deternined facial expression.

"O-Okay, I...I believe in you Naruto kun." Said Yakumo with a meaningful look, trying to pass on her feelings unto Naruto.

"Arigatou..." Trailed off Naruto, staring in slight shock at Yakumo's transparent form, only to realise that he was also disappearing.

"We're out of time, I can't believe two hours have already passed, it felt so short." Said Naruto with a disappointed expression on his face.

"I'm sorry Naruto but I...I can't hold the jutsu up any longer, I'm getting tired, gomenassai!" Apologised Yakumo, trying to hold back the tears threatening to spill from her eyes. This is the part she hated the most, because it would only be a week before she would be able to see Naruto kun again, unless she escaped and went to his apartment again, but that was too dangerous, they didn't want to risk the possibility of someone discovering their connection to each other, heck nobody even knew that they knew each other.

"Don't worry about it. We will be leaving this place the next time we meet. Stay safe Yakumo chan, until I come for you." Said the blond as he vanished from the plain along with Yakumo, only to wake up in a meditative position on a thick branch of a tree two miles away from the Kurama mansion.

"Finally boss! I was just about to kick you in the nuts, guard duty is boring you know, why can't you make us do something more exciting?" Wined one of his four doppelgangers watching over the blond while he was unconscious.

It was something important that he practised nowadays. He would make five doppelgangers whenever he 'met' Yakumo. One would set up a cloaking genjutsu that Yakumo had taught him to hide his location and presence while the other four would be on guard duty from within the jutsu.

At home, was another doppellganger posing as him. He knew that the Hokage had a way of watching him because kyubi could always sense it when someone was watching them. He had figured part of the Hokage's jutsu out when he discovered chakra seal tags on each of his clothing items and even all around his apartment. So he'd done what he thought was one of his most ingenius plans. He'd created a blood clone of himself and made it live inside his apartment and wear his ordinary clothes that had chakra seal tags on them while he moved out and started living in one of Orochimaru's old and undiscovered secrete hideouts that Kabuto had told him about. But the person living inside his apartment wasn't just a blood clone. Naruto knew, after he unsealed some of his memories that had been blocked away with the help of Kyubi that the Sandaime Hokage sometimes did examinations on his seal when he was knocked unconscious, and if the examination was done on the clone, then there would be a whole lot of trouble.

Luckily, he had access to all the notes of the **Four Symbols Seal** that his tousan used to seal the kyubi inside of him. He had discovered that his father had combined two **Four Symbols Seals** to create the **Eight Trigrams Sealing Style** to seal the yang chakra of the kyubi inside of him, while using the dead demon consuming seal to seperate the yin chakra and seal it into himself so that he can take it to the stomach of the death god.

Naruto wasn't sure why his father had done it, he still needed to gain a far greater understanding of the sealing arts to comprehend his father's reasoning, but that didn't matter for now. What mattered was that he had been able to learn the **Four Symbols Seal** and the **Eight Trigrams Sealing Sryle** that his father created so that he can replicate the seal on his stomach.

He then placed the seal on the blood clone's stomach and then, with the help of his kaa chan was able to pump six tails worth of youki into the seal on his clone and stored it there in the exact same manner that his kaa chan was sealed into him. But, Naruto knew that should there be another attack or assasination attempt on him, or rather, his clone, then the Hokage would once again try to seal away his memories of the incident, and in doing so, would discover that the other memory blocks were missing. Luckily, his Kaa chan knew exactly how to replicate the memory blocks, she'd spent countless hours studying them before they had made their first contact. This meant that they could reseal away the memories of his clone to the time before he discovered his kaa chan, better known as the kyubi. This way, they were not able to stay one step ahead of the Hokage, but many, many steps ahead of him. While his clone was posing as him, Naruto had spent all his time learning and training in Orochimaru's old hideout, Kabuto came to check him out and spar with him from time to time. Sometimes they would disccus their plans for the future, and other times they would discuss medicine and science together, he had learned a lot from the notes his biological kaa chan left him on the field and had learned even more from Kabuto, all for the sake of helping out his first precious person, or rather, first precious human.

'_It is almost time, I have to go to the hide out and meet Kabuto to finalize things, Yakumo chan...hold on just a little longer.' _Thought Naruto before disappearing in a shunshuin, his shadow clones disappearing in puffs of smoke right after his departure.

**End Chapter**

**Alright, that was actually the longest first chapter I have written so far, my first chapters are usually really short.**

**Anyway Naruto will specialize in Sound Jutsu, Water Jutsu, Seals and Barriers. And also the experiment that Oro will do on him will give him a very powerful ability, one that I won't reveal as of yet.**

**Yakumo will special in Genjutsu and Mind tranfer/control techniques**

**Hope yaw enjoyed it.**


	2. Chapter 2

**DISCLAIMER: **I do not own Naruto or any other series that I might use for inspiration.

**CHAPTER 2**

**_Battle Between Monsters_**

At the centre of Konohagakure no saito stood a tall building with the kanji for fire painted on the outside. Inside the tower, behind a desk in an office on the top floor, sat a 68 year old man with grey/white, spiky hair with a small, white goatee, he has numerous wrinkles and a few liver spots on his face, and is dressed in a long, white robe with the kanji for _fire shadow _at the back with black ninja sandals.

"How goes your investigation, Itachi kun, Shisui kun?" Asked the old man, who is also known by the name Sarutobi Hiruzen, the Sandaime Hokage of Konohagakure no saito.

"Hokage sama, we have some disturbing news..." Said the 11 year old Uchiha Itachi, a boy with dark eyes and black hair that frames his face and the rest held in a relatively short ponytail with long, pronounced tear troughs that run under his eyes. He is dressed in a black T-shirt that has a high, turtleneck collar with the standard, white A.N.B.U armour above, arm guards that protect his forearms and black A.N.B.U pants with black ninja sandals.

"What did you find?" Asked Hiruzen wearily, his eyes narrowed with a troubled frown on his features.

"Our genjutsu assessment was inconclusive, our deceaced comrades it appears had already been dead for two weeks when their bodies were discovered, the decaying process of the corpses had already reached a level where it would be impossible for us to physically determine whether they were under such effects prior to their deaths, demo..." Said the older looking Uchiha Shisui, a 14 year old boy with dark, short, and unkept hair with a relatively broad nose and dark eyes with markings around his eyes that are turned upwards at each end. He is wearing an identical outfit to his partner Itachi except with a dark blue turtleneck shirt as opposed to Itachi's black and without arm guards.

"What is it Shisui kun?" Asked the Hokage, his troubled expression making him look even older then he was.

"Hokage sama, we discovered something much more troubling, the stab wounds on the victims were not a match for any weapon that we have in Konohagakure no saito except for one...Yondaime Hokage sama's Hirashin Kunai!" Replied Shisui neutrally, having already had more then enough time to get over his shock of the discovery.

Sarutobi Hiruzen was the third of the four Hokages in Konoha's history and the longest serving member of the four, and thus attaining the most experience. He was hailed as _The God Of All Shinobi _for his diverse and powerful skill set and seen everything there was to be seen in the ninja world, he was also the student of the first and second Hokages and had stared death right in the face more times then he could even count. Yet nothing, nothing he had ever heard or encountered before had ever made him feel the kind of that the little boy of the Uchiha clan was able to make him feel with just a few words, nothing!

"I'm sorry Shisu kun, but could you repeat yourself for me, and kindly explain yourself?" Asked Hiruzen in slight disbelief, unable to bring himself to believe that his own successor could possibly still be alive and become an enemy to his home village, or worse, that an enemy shinobi had been able to replicate something that not even he or the Yondaime's own sensei could. Either possibilty was not welcome, this is the same technique that was able to shed light for Konoha against the strong Iwagakure, a single man pushing back a whole ninja village on his own.

"Hokage sama, all of the deceased where stabbed through the back, the position of the wounds and the nature of the attacks suggest that they were unable to react to the culprit's movements. With an inconclusive genjutsu assessment, the only other two possiblities are that either a very powerful speed technique or an instant transportation technique was used, two things that Yondaime sama was renouned for. The wounds were definately a result of the use of Yondaime sama's Kunai." Explained Shisui, leaving the Hokage to come to his own conclusions about the information presented.

"I see... And what of the sweeper? Why did she not report that the four that were assigned to the Kurama Heiress were diceased for over two weeks? Why would she report that everything was normal when it clearly wasn't? Is she a traitor?" Asked Hiruzen with narrowed eyes.

"No she isn't. She was under a powerful genjutsu, a genjutsu that could rival mine and even Shisui senpei's genjutsu. We believe that the jutsu was cast by the Kurama heiress herself to buy time to cover both hers and her accomplice's tracks, in other words, this wasn't a kidnapping, but a well planned and executed escape." Explained Itachi.

_'What is going on here? I saw Minato kun die in front of my own eyes and I even held his corpse. Yet here I am, presented with near irrefutable eveidence that he is not only alive but a possible enemy to Konoha. It is unlikely that he would be alive, but at the same time impossible for an enemy to replicate Minato kun's technique. What am I supposed to think here? Assuming that Minato kun were alive, or someone with the knowledge of his techniques, what would they possibly want the most..." _Thought Hiruzen before widening his eyes in shock and fear.

"What is the matter, Hokage sama!" Exclaimed the two Uchiha prodigies simulataneously, their hands already firmly placed on their tantos strapped on their backs. The duo watched intently as their Hokage pulled out a crystal ball from the drawer under his desk, his hand hovering over the ball and without even molding any hand seals channeling his chakra into the technique. The image that appeared on the ball was that of a little six year old boy with spiky blond hair and three whisker like lines on each of his cheeks, a blue and mostly neon orange jumpsuit with blue sandals. The boy was sitting on a swing, watching the other kids play with a sad expression on his face that he was trying to hide. The Hokage released a loud sigh of relief, seing that his so called surogate grand son was still safe within the walls of Konoha.

_'So that's what he was worried about...not unexpected, with the Kurama heiresses disapearance and the kind of evidence that was collected, the boy could and should be a possible target for the enemy.' _Thought Shisui.

"Shisui, Itachi!" Said the Hokage with authority, foresaking the _kun _suffixes to their names as a sign of the seriousness of the situation.

"Hai, Hokage sama!" Saluted the duo rigidly.

"The information obtained will from now on become an S ranked secrete, you are not to disclose this information to anyone who doesn't already know about it under the penalty of death, understood!" Asked Hiruzen rhetorically.

"Hai!" Replied the duo in sync.

"Good! Now, your next mission is an S class mission of the highest importance, you are to watch over and protect the Kyubi jinchuuriki, Uzumaki Naruto at all times of the day but you are not to make contact or even be seen by either him or anyone else he associates with. You will take turns in watching over him, Itachi you take the day shift, Shisui, you take the night shift, this mission will begin immediately and refusal of the mission is not an option, understood?" Said Hiruzen with a deadly stare, one that made him not recognisable as the kind old man, but as the Hokage, and the Kami no Shinobi.

"Hai, Hokage sama!" Replied the Uchiha prodigies.

"Good! Dismissed!" Said Hiruzen, watching the two boys disappear with a silent shunshin.

_'Those boys are two of the best that I have in my ranks, if they can't protect him, then no one can. I need to make contact with Jiraiya kun, he will need to hear all about this. Sigh...I'm getting too old for this job, I need to find another successor soon.' _Thought Hiruzen.

_**Otogakure no saito...**_

"Kukuku! Welcome back Naruto kun, I was starting to think that you weren't going to return to usss?" Hissed Orochimaru, a man wearing plain grey garbs with black pants and a thick purple rope belt tied in a large knot behind his back and blue tamoe shaped earings. He is wearing a black polo neck under his outfit. He has pale white skin with waist length black hair, amber eyes with slits in his pupils and purple like markings around his eyes, making him look more like a snake that has taken the form of a human.

"Mnnnn..." Mumbled Naruto, unable to speak properly, reason being that his body was floating inside a cylindrical glass container full of liquid with an oxygen mask attached to his face and a numerous amount of chord like syringes impaling him all over his body.

"Kukuku, I'm sorry Naruto kun but you are going to have to work on your vocabulary if you we are going to communicate properly with each other Kukuku!" Laughed Orochimaru theotrically, unable to hold back his amusement seeing the incredulous expression on his newest subbordinate.

"Come on now Orochimaru sama, you shouldn't antagonize Naruto kun, he has already contributed so much to our scientific knowledge, he is after all, a living, and breathing scientific miracle." Said Kabuto, a ten year old boy who has black eyes with grey hair kept in a ponytail and wears circular glasses. He is also wearing a dark purple shirt with a white undershirt and a white obi around his waist worn at an angle, dark purple pants, blue sandals, and a shuriken holster on his right leg. An Otogakure forehead protector is worn around his forehead and dark purple gloves with open fingers covering his hands.

_'What is this...this feeling? I can feel their essence?' _Thought the blond Uzumaki.

_**"Relax Naru chan, you are merely sensing their chakra, this is no doubt a result of the experiment, one of the main qualities of the implanted material was chakra sensing, remember?" **_Said the kyubi from inside the blond's mind.

_"So that is how it is, what a useful ability, I can even tell the nature and feeling of their chakra. This is good!" _Replied the blonde with a little excitement.

Naruto was broken out of his thoughts when Kabuto released the water from the glass cylinder he was contained in. The oxygen mask and the syringes dislodged themselves with a ram hand sign and a small flare of chakra from Kabuto, causin the blond to fall face first into the ground.

"My my Naruto kun, a little clumsy aren't we, if this is your level then I am afraid you don't have what it takes to be able to join my elite shinobi." Said Orochimaru, mocking the blond with a mischievious glint in his eyes, an attempt to test the limits of the boy's temperament.

_"Damn it! Kaa chan, what is wrong with my body?" _Asked Naruto with a little panic in his voice.

**"It took a great amount of energy from the both of us in order to not only keep you alive, but to assimilate the foreign DNA material into you. Plus, you haven't moved at all in just over two weeks now, you just need a little time to get re-aquinted with your body and regain some energy that's all. Don't worry about anything , I won't let anything bad happen to you." **Said the great demoness motherly.

_"H-Hai, arigatou Kaa chan!"_ Replied Naruto, slowly getting up to his feet.

A tick mark appeared on Orochimaru's forehead at Naruto's complete disregard of his insulting attempts. Kabuto only smirked to himself silently, successfully restraining his laughter for fear of Orochimaru sama's wrath.

"How do you feel Naruto kun?" Asked Kabuto with his trademark smirk on display, pushing up his glasses with his index and middle finger.

"Tired and drained, but fine." Was Naruto's simple answer.

"Hn, I see, but what I meant was, do you feel any different, something related to the DNA implants?" Asked Kabuto.

"I can feel your life force, your chakra, I can sense it, its nature, and I can somewhat discern your emotions, or rather, your character...somewhat." Replied Naruto.

"So I was right afterall, chakra sensing would have had to be a quality attained from the experiment, given the offensive abilities that you might also gain. Demo, what did you mean when you said you could discern our character by sensing our chakra?" Asked Kabuto.

"Orochimaru sama's chakra feels cold and sinister, yours just feels cold. The chakra is an extension of the life force of a human, with the soul being the source, that being said, if your chakra feels cold and sinister, then you are most likely a cold and sinsiter person." Said Naruto, his words making Orochimaru narrow his eyes at Naruto, blasting him with his full kIlling intent.

"O...Orochimaru sama..." Sputtered Kabuto, hoping to stop his master from killing his favorite ally but failing to supress his fear long enough to take any action.

"Tell me Naruto kun, what are you going to do now that you have this power, do you not trust us anymore because of our cold and sinister character as you say? Are you planning to betray me?" Asked Orochimaru, taking slow and deliberate steps towards the blond for the intimidating effect.

"Our agreement was never about trust, we have an agreement that is mutually beneficial, that's all there is to it. The nature of your chakra doesn't concern me, Kaa chan's chakra has a million times more malice in it then yours, but I trust her." Said the blond.

_'W-why isn't he affected by Orochimaru sama's killing intent? Surely even he couldn't have that much resistence could he?' _Thought Kabuto, eyes widening slightly in shock.

"Kaa chan? What are you talking about? Who is your kaa chan?" Asked Orochimaru in confusion, now regretting not having spoken more to the boy before subjecting him to his experiments, although just thinking about it, there was no way he could have held back his scientific curiosity any longer then he did even if time were to be reversed.

"My kaa chan, well...most people know her as the Kyubi no Kitsune." Explained Naruto, confirming what the snrwith black sclera in the eyes and a black stripe running from the middle of his forehead and down the bridge iake sannin already suspected.p

_'So, he has already made contact with the kyubi, and it has already sunken its claws into him. This is more complicated then I thought, I can't pretend around him, not with his chakra sensing abilities and definately not with the kyubi as his ally, he'll see right through me. I won't be able to turn Naruto kun into my loyal pawn it seems, manipulating him is near impossible. But there is no reason for him not to be my ally, we share the same loathing for Konoha and Sarutobi sensei and he has shown a great interest in science. He also seems to have a bond with Kabuto, everything will be fine.' _Thought Orochimaru, lamenting the fact that he wouldn't be able to take over the boy's body when he completed his rebirth jutsu.

"I see, one more question though, why are you unaffected by my killing intent, strong and elite jounins have trembled before me, yet you, a mere child are able to stand before my presense so casually? Why is that so?" Asked Orochimaru off handedly.

_'This boy is shrouded in mystery, I can't afford to let my guard down around him, although, he doesn't seem like the type to betray someone without a just cause.' _Thought Orochimaru.

"A human's killing intent, no matter how strong said human may be, is but a drop in an ocean compared to kaa chan's killing intent, what do you think would happen if a person was exposed to that kind of pressure on a daily basis? Wouldn't that person be able to develop a higher then normal tolerance to killing intent?" Asked the boy rhetorically.

"Hmmm...makes sense, I'm embarrassed that I never even considered that possibility. In any case, go and find little Yakumo chan, she has a little surprise that she's been waiting for a week now to show you, use your new sensing powers to track her, it will be good practise for your upcoming test and it will help you to quickly learn the layout of our base ." Ordered Orochimaru.

"Test?" Asked Naruto.

"Kukuku, off course Naruto kun, it is customery for us to test and confirm the success of an experiment by pitting the subject against a powerful opponent in a controlled environment. Be sure to prepare yourself physically and mentally, you only have at most an hour before we begin testing." Said Orochimaru.

"That makes sense, what are the rules?" Asked Naruto

"No seals or barriers, no weapons, no demon chakra and no genjutsu, everything else is allowed, except for killing, make sure you don't kill your opponent, he is a very important part of our plans." Warned Orochimaru.

"Hai, I will prepare accordingly. Um...may I be excused now...Orochimaru sama?" Asked Naruto respectfully.

"Kukuku, can't wait to see little Yakumo chan can you Naruto kun, she's a lucky one to have a protector with so much potential. Don't mind us Naruto kun, go along, your dear friend is waiting for you...oh...and be careful, the others might not take an instant liking to you, they'll want you to prove yourself to them..." Warned Orochimaru.

"Hai Orochimaru sama!" Replied the blond, running out of the heavy lab door with barely contained excitement and anticipation.

"Kabuto...?" Said Orochimaru with a deadly tone, his usual amused expression vacant from his features.

"How may I help you, Orochimaru sama?" Asked Kabuto a little too cheerfully.

"That boy, is he trust worthy?" Asked the sannin.

"Hehehe! Orochimaru sama, don't you get it? It isn't about his current worth as an ally, but his potential worth. Yakumo chan, without Naruto kun to fuss over her over the last two weeks was forced to make new friends during Naruto kun's absence, in fact, she, Karin, and Tayuya have become really close in the last week and a half or so, you know, being one of the few girls in oto's shinobi and academy ranks..."

"Kukuku, what a sly dog you are Kabuto kun, those girls all have horrible pasts, no, rather, all those kids have horrible pasts even at such tender ages, you're counting on Naruto kun and Yakumo chan to form powerful bonds with those kids because of their similar pasts aren't you?" Asked Orochimaru, an amused smirk returning to his features.

"My my Orochimaru sama, you know me too well for my own good." Said Kabuto with equal amusement, pushing up his glasses with a trademark smirk hidden behind his hand.

"Kukuku, very well, we shall see how things develop very soon.I've been thinking though, how exactly did that girl escape Sarutobi sensei's watch? It couldn't have been easy to get her out, even for you?" Asked Orochimaru curiously.

"Heh...you give me too much credit Orochimaru sama, I'm not that skilled yet you know. In any case, I didn't have to do anything actually, they did everything themselves, all I had to do was guide them to this location." Explained Kabuto, taking pride in being the one to put the gobsmacked expression that his master was currently wearing.

"Don't play games with me Kabuto! You expect me to believe that two six year old kids could ever be capable of such a feat no matter how talented they are?" Asked Orochimaru menacingly, no longer amused anymore.

"Hehehe! You don't understand Orochimaru sama, this isn't about whether you believe it or not, the situation will not change simply because you decide not to believe in it. The facts will remain the same regardless... Orochimaru sama!" Said Kabuto with a sinister smirk.

"Don't patronize me Kabuto! Tell me exactly what happened or become Manda's next meal! Your choice!" Hissed Orochimaru impatiently.

"Well...that would be a terrible fate. Very well, I will tell you. You see, Naruto kun, for some unknown reason appears to have come into the possesion of one of the Yondaime Hokage Hirashin no Jutsu Kunai..." Said Kabuto, taking a breathe for dramatic effect, taking in Orochimaru's fish eyed expression with glee.

"Impossible! He couldn't have..." Trailed off Orochimaru in disbelief.

"Hehehe! Don't be hasty in your conclusions Orochimaru sama, Naruto kun doesn't know that technique. You see, Yakumo chan was able to set up a powerful genjutsu on her _watchers, _in fact, it could be said that they were almost constantly under her genjutsu without them even knowing for the better part of a year now. Anyway, the jutsu is an instinct supressing genjutsu, they could sense Naruto kun coming behind them somewhat but their intincts, survival instincts included were not allowing them to react until it was too late." Explained Kabuto.

"No one would expect four A.N.B.U level shinobi to die without a fight unless they came up against an opponent with powerful genjutsu, great speed, or instant transportation like Minato kun. Naruto kun using a Hirashin kunai to do the killing gives me the impression that they wanted to make it look like the Yondaime Hokage or at least, someone who knows his technique was responsible for the crime, demo, Konoha has quality medical shinobi and the best genjutsu users from the Uchiha clan, there is no way they wouldn't have been able to detect any signs of the deceased being under the influence of genjutsu just before they died. It was a good idea but poorly executed because of their lack of experience." Said Orochimaru almost dismissively.

"Eh...don't you think you're underestimating them just a tad bit too much Orochimaru sama?" Asked Kabuto casually.

"No, what would make you think that?" Asked Orochimaru curiously.

"Well...I never did say that the plan ended there. You see, Naruto kun was able to replace Yakumo chan's watchers with his shadow doppelgangers, that jutsu, together with Yakumo chan's genjutsu and knowledge of her watchers' behaviour and mannerisms, gave Naruto kun the ability and information needed to impersonate her observers for just over two weeks. By that time that Konoha discovers the bodies, it will have already been too late to succesfully conduct a genjutsu test and analysis on the decaying bodies. This in turn, means that they have virtually no choice but to assume that the person responsible must have used the Yondaime Hokage's jutsu, or...that the culprit was in fact the Yondaime Hokage himself."

"Kukukuku! What an amazing child, no, I should rather say, what amazing children Naruto kun and Yakumo chan are! They are going to make powerful additions to my elite army, kukuku!" Laughed Orochimaru maniacly.

"You know Kabuto, you didn't say how exactly it was that Naruto kun covered his own tracks, I would have thought that Sarutobi sensei would have paid special attention to Minato's son, he was after all, Konoha's ultimate weapon?" Asked Orochimaru.

"Hn, Naruto kun is still in Konoha, as far as the Hokage and the rest of Konoha are aware that is." Replied Kabuto cryptically.

"Do I need to make you elaborate on that Kabuto kun?" Said Orochimaru a little too cheerfully, fed up of the boy's elusive manner of answering questions, it might have been amusing to play his little game at the beginning but now it was just plain annoying.

"Hn, off course not Orochimaru sama, that won't be neccessary. You see, Naruto kun's blood clone is still living in Konoha as his double and unaware secrete agent. Naruto kun was somehow able to replicate the Yondaime Hokage's Four Symbols Seal and seal away what he said to be six tails worth of youki inside the blood clone, furthermore, he was able to recreate the memory blocks that the sandaime Hokage had placed on him before thanks to his um..._Kaa chan._ He also set up a memory block that would seal away the clone's knowledge of the kyubi's existence and the knowledge that it was a blood clone and not a real human to begin with. This way, not only was Naruto kun able to escape without detection, but he also has a sleeper agent in the village in the form of his blood clone for as long as is neccessary." Said Kabuto

_'The blood clone is an Uzumaki clan technique, even the forbidden shadow clone jutsu of Konoha was originally an Uzumaki clan jutsu. And now the boy was able to recreate such an advanced seal and use it effectively to create a perfect double. Something is strange here, how is a six year old boy able to achieve these feats? Wait a second...what am I stupid, off course! The kyubi was at some point sealed inside two powerful Uzumaki women, it would obviously have some knowledge on the Uzumaki clan techniques.' _Thought Orochimaru.

"Come with me Kabuto, we have to go and retrieve Naruto kun's opponent for the examination. You know how troublesome he can be at times." Said Orochimaru with Kabuto in tow.

**0000000000000**

"Naruto kun!" Exclaimed Yakumo with excitement, running herself into the blond's arms, Naruto, caught off guard not only by her mobility, but her strength too fell flat on his back with the Kurama clan heiress snuggled on top of him.

"Yakumo chan." Was all the blonde said, wrapping his arms around the petite girl in a loving hug.

"Naruto kun, I'm so glad you're okay, I was so worried! I thought you were never going to wake up!" Cried Yakumo with her face burried at the crook of the blonde's neck.

"Hehe! You worry too much about me Yakumo chan, but I'm glad that you're safe, I was worried sick about you." Said Naruto with a kind smile while brushing the cute little girl's hair away from her face.

"Really?" Asked Yakumo with a her best puppy eyes face.

"Hai, I couldn't stop panicking until I confirmed that you were truly safe with my own eyes. Even though I could sense through your chakra that you were okay, I still needed to confirm it with my eyes." Said Naruto, his right hand cupping and caressing her face lovingly.

"Oh Naruto kun...sniff...that's so...unmanly of you! I never thought you were such a softy, hehehe!" Laughed Yakumo uncontrollably, pressing her index finger into his chest in a teasing gesture.

"S-shut up! I'm not a softy!" Shouted Naruto, blushing furiously from embarrassment.

"Hehehe! Ahahaha! Sure Naruto kun, I like totally believe you hehehe!" Laughed Yakumo, she couldn't help it, he was so easy to tease sometimes and besides, he was so cute when he was flustered, her cute little fox.

"Why you, I'll show you soft!" Shouted Naruto before flipping the girl over on her back and then initiating a devastating tickling attack on her vulnerable body parts.

"Aw ahahahaha! Please hahaha stop! Alright I'm sorry I'm sorry ahahaha!" Apologised Yakumo in between a fit of giggles curtesy of her best friends unrelenting attack on her.

"Hehehe! Who's a softy now huh...Yakumo chaaan!" Said Naruto, streching the last syllable of his sentence teasingly.

Their fun reunion was halted prematurely by a devastating surprise attack, but Naruto, with his sensing abilities was able to react just in time, completely avoiding the giant metal club that would have completely crushed them, a huge creator remaining where they used to be.

Naruto, from his position standing on the wall with Yakumo in his arms, stared at the giant grotesque figure that was responsible for the attack, amazed by the sheer size and power of the humanoid creature if it could create such a huge creator from just one swing of that club.

It looked like a male figure with a dark green full-body suit with long hair that covers its entire head and face, also covering its ears and eyes with its mouth sewn shut. The metal club seemed to be carried with its right hand.

_'I can't believe that I let my guard down like that, even if I was just happy to see Yakumo chan, it was no excuse, if it wasn't for my new sensor abilities, we might have both been dead now. And what on earth is that thing?' _Thought Naruto.

"Tayuya, what the hell are you doing you baka! You almost killed Yakumo chan!" Screamed Karin angrily, angry that one of her closest friends had just attacked her newest friend with the intent to kill for no reason at all. Karin has red eyes, matching hair colour, and an unusual hairstyle: her hair is short, pointy, and unkempt on the right side, while it is long, pin-straight and combed on her left side. She wears brown glasses and her outfit consists of a lavender uniform common for Orochimaru's subordinates, short black shorts, and long black thigh high stockings with black sandals.

"Shut the fuck up you fucking slut! That fool was trying to do something strange to her, I was trying to save her from that sick shit eating cum stain!" Replied Tayuya with equal intensity. She has brown eyes and long untamed, and red hair with a black hat at the top with bandages wrapped around the sides. She is wearing a tan tunic with black spandex shorts and standard black shinobi sandals.

"You stupid bitch! She was in direct line of your attack and was pinned to the floor! There was no way she could have escaped that!" Screamed Karin furiously, her face red hot from anger, it almost looked like steam was going to get blown out of her ears.

"Tche...I'm sure she could have escaped..." Said Tayuya casually, not willing to admit her mistake.

"Arg! I hate you!" Said Karin, pointing a shaky finger at her friend.

"Well...fuck you too you whore!" Replied Tayuya heatedly.

_'So she was aiming to kill me and not Yakumo after all, then...she is the one controlling that thing?' _Thought Naruto.

**"**_**Did you hear the music just before the attack? I think she is using chakra enhanced sound waves to control it, look at the flute in her hand, it is the only tool on her person, that is the secrete to her technique, I'm sure of it." **_Said the great demoness.

_'I see, in that case, I should be able to eventually predict her attack patterns by studying the chakra in the sound frequencies using my sensor ablities.' _Thought the blond.

"You almost killed my reason for existing, I'm going to have to kill you for that" Said Naruto coldly.

"Give it your best shot dick cheese!" Replied the 7 year old Tayuya, placing her flute on her lips in preparation for battle.

_'I can only summon one doki at a time with my current chakra reserves, but that shit aint a problem, I only need one to take care of this shithead!' _Thought Tayuya.

"You have already lost, I already know how to counter your technique. You need chakra to use and direct the sound vibrations and frequencies from the music in your flute in order to gain control of your monster. I, who can sense the chakra frequencies in your jutsu can never lose to you, I will always know what move you are going to make before you strike." Said Naruto nonchalantly, trying to weaken the foul mouthed girl's resolve.

'_Impossible! Someone else with that kind of ability can't possibly exist, could he be a sensor type of the same level as Karin?' _Thought Tayuya with wide eyes.

'_No! What am I afraid off! I am one of Orochimaru sama's elite desciples, one of the few chosen to be trained explicitly to become his body guards, I can never lose to this trash! Besides, he won't be able to anticipate the initial attacks even with his chakra sensing, he needs to at least have seen the movement at least once before he can anticipate an attack, all I have to do is end the battle with the initial attacks, that's all there is to it!' _Thought Tayuya.

"You'll have to deal with me too then, you won't defeat the both of us no matter how strong you think you are!" Said Karin with determination shining in her eyes.

"All of you stop it now or I will put you all under the worst genjutsu that you can think off!" Shouted Yakumo furiously. Everyone gulped nervously at Yakumo's threat. They all knew better then to take her threat lightly, her genjutsus were close to unbreakable, and what made matters worse was that her genjutsu could take physical manifestations because of her ability to confuse the brain and make it believe that the effects in the illusion were really happening to the body. For example, if she were to put you in an illusion were your skin was burning, then your real skin would suffer the real effects as if it were literally on fire.

"Naruto kun, these are my new friends, they kept me company while you were um...asleep. Tayuya, Karin, this Naruto kun, he's the one I told you guys about, the one that saved me from Konoha, my best friend." Explained Yakumo, trying to break the tension between the two parties. Tayuya and Karin's eyes widened from shock, struggling to believe that they had tried to kill _him _without even knowing it. They knew almost everything there was to know about him, Yakumo had talked about her Naruto kun non stop, they felt like they knew him already, to think that they were about to kill him, or try to kill him.

"New friends? When did this happen?" Asked Naruto curiously.

"I...um...well I was lonely and Orochimaru sama wouldn't allow anyone to see you during your experiment. Tayuya and Karin tried to cheer me up and um...we ended up getting close um...we became friends." Answered Yakumo nervously, feeling like she had done something wrong for some reason she couldn't understand, or maybe she felt like she had betrayed Naruto kun by having other friends that were not him.

"I see, were they good to you? Do you think you can trust them?" Asked Naruto, speaking about the two girls as if they were not there at all.

"H-hai, I trust them...um...Naruto kun, you're not mad at me are you?" Asked Yakumo.

"Huh...uh...no, I can never be mad at you." Said Naruto with a smile, his deep blue eyes captivating Yakumo so much that she had to avert her eyes from him to hide her embarrassment.

"Um...Naruto kun, could you please put me down now?" Asked Yakumo shyly. She had just been so happy to see him back and so pre-ocupied that she hadn't noticed how close he was holding her against his body, it made it worse that he was holding her bridal style against his naked torso.

"Huh...oh! Gomenassai!" Said Naruto hastily, jumping on to the floor and releasing her from his bridal style embrace with great haste, a small red hue forming around his whisker markings.

"Ehehehe so um...why don't you properly introduce me to your friends?" Asked Naruto, scratching the back of his head to hide his embarrassment.

"Okay um...well, the one with the foul mouth is Tayuya chan of the North Gate, she is one of Orochimaru sama's sound four elite trainees and the one with the glasses is Karin chan, she is Kabuto sama's apprentice." Said Yakumo.

"Oh okay, um...ohayo Tayuya chan, Karin chan, I'm Namikaze Uzumaki Naruto, it is nice to meet you!" Said Naruto with his hand stretched out for a handshake.

"Did you say Namikaze? But isn't that the name of the Fourth Hokage? Are you related to him?" Asked Karin with wide eyes, Tayuya's mouth on her side was hanging agape after that, she didn't know that was the name of the Fourth Hokage, damn she should have paid more attention on her history lessons.

"Hai, I am his biological son." Said Naruto, shocking the duo even more, sure Karin had already figured out that they were related, but she didn't expect them to be father and son.

"S-sugoi! No wonder Yakumo chan and Kabuto sensei speak so highly of you! Um...is it okay if I um...feel you?" Asked Karin with a light blush on her face.

"Sure why not, if it will prove to you that I am real then I don't see the problem." Said Naruto, placing Karin's hand on his chest. The girl blushed furiously, not having expected something like that, she had just wanted to feel out his chakra with her **Mind's Kagura Of the Eye**, not this.

"Get your paws off her you pervert!" Shouted Tayuya, smacking the blond's hand away with her flute.

"Hey, I'm not a pervert!" Shouted the blonde indignantly.

"Sure, you could have fooled me, like I didn't see how you were groping Yakumo earlier! Now you're trying to do the same to karin, I won't allow it!" Shouted Tayuya, pointing at the blond with her flute.

"What the hell are you talking about? I wasn't groping anyone, you're starting to sound like a paranoid, insecure, and jealous wife!" Countered the blonde.

"Why you! How dare you insult me you shithead! All she asked you was if she could feel your chakra, not your body you cum stained wanking pervert!" Shouted Tayuya.

"I...I...how was I supposed to know that!" Said Naruto, blushing slightly from embarrassment.

"I don't know...how about asking what she meant like a normal person instead of sticking your head into the gutter?" Asked Tayuya mockingly.

"Hey shithead! Did you hear me, hey!" Shouted Tayuya, angry at being ignored like that, not realising that Naruto was having an internal conversation with his inner beast.

_"Hey kaa chan, I'm going to block our connection for a while, she'll freak out if she senses you without prior knowledge of your existence!" Said Naruto._

_**"That is a good idea, do it." **_

Said Kyubi with a lazy yawn.

_"Alright thanks, I promise this will not happen again, I will tell them about you, I'm not ashamed of you, I love you...kaa chan!" _Said the blonde.

A small tight knot formed on the demoness's stomach from the blonde's declaration, with an invisible blush on her cheeks she returned and meant the gesture.

_**"Um...I love you too sochi kun."**_ Replied Kyubi, feeling a strange but happy feeling in her chest area where her heart should be.

"Karin chan, are you okay?" Asked Naruto, breaking Karin from her concentration. She blushed a little at the chan suffix, they barely knew each other and he was already using such an affectionate suffix with her name.

"Hai, I'm okay, w-why?" Asked Karin.

"Well, you were making strange faces, at first you seemed happy and content, and then concerned, and after that a little freaked out and then happy again and so on! Was there something wrong with my chakra?" Asked Naruto.

"H-hai, your chakra is strange, it has three different tones to it, one bright and warm like the sun itself and the other two both sinister, with one being more sinister then the other. Also, I couldn't go as deep as I wanted to go, it was like something was blocking me away, like you were trying to hide some part of yourself." Said Karin

_'I see, the three tones of my chakra represent my normal chakra, the second part that is affected by Kaa chan's chakra that is cyphoned into my chakra system by tou san's seal and the third one must be a result of the implanted dna material.' _Thought Naruto.

"I knew you couldn't be fucking trusted, what the fuck were you trying hide huh shithead?" Asked Tayuya, boring her eyes straight through the blonde's head with her intense stare, her face so close to his that their lips were almost touching.

"Shut up! Naruto kun doesn't have to tell you anything!" Shouted Yakumo.

"No...its okay Yakumo chan. You said that they could be trusted, and that they were your friends, I see no need to keep it a secrete from them." Said Naruto.

"But...!"

"Did you tell them about yours, Yakumo chan?" Asked Naruto.

"H-hai." Replied Yakumo.

"And did they accept you?" Asked Naruto.

"Hai!" Said Yakumo.

"Then don't worry, they should accept me too." Said Naruto.

"No way! You have the Ido demon too?" Asked Tayuya, pointing a shaky finger at the blonde.

"No, I have the Kyubi no Kitsune sealed inside of me by the Yondaime Hokage." Said the blonde, shocking the two prospective kunoichi.

"No way! Your own father sealed a demon inside of you! Is that why you were hated in Konoha?" Asked Karin with wide teary eyes.

"Yes." Was all Naruto said.

"Man that is terrible, I would have killed my dad if he did something like that to me!" Said a male voice from behind the trio.

Naruto turned around to see three boys that didn't look more then a year or two older then him.

"Nobody asked you Kidomaru baka!" Shouted Karin at the source of the voice.

"Tche, like I care what you think four eyes!" Said Kidomaru, a dark skinned, black haired, and black eyed seven year old looking boy wearing a black sleeveless top and black spandex shorts with a tan tunic over the top that bears a symbol for the sound four and a rope belt tied around his waist. He is also wearing arm warmers and has bandages wrappped around his legs with black ninja sandals, the most unique traits about him though are the two extra pairs of arms situated on the sides of his torso.

"I can't kill him, he is already dead. You look like you could be good at taijutsu though." Replied the blonde.

"Huh...actually, I'm more of a long range type, what made you think I was a taijutsu based type of fighter though?" Asked Kidomaru curiously.

"It is not that I thought you were a taijutsu type, I was just thinking, that with four extra limbs, you could create a very powerful and unpredictable taijutsu style, after all, nobody trains or practises to fight against someone with that many arms, it could be a great advantage for you." Said Naruto analytically.

"Hn, hehehehe, I like you, I think you and I will get along pretty well, you should hang out with the boys sometime." Offered Kidomaru, offering the blonde a handshake with one of his six arms.

"Sure, why not!" Replied Naruto with a smile on his face, sealing the deal with a firm handshake.

"Tche, whatever you do just make sure you don't offer to buy fat shit Jirobo any food or you'll be broke for months!" Said Tayuya.

"You shouldn't curse so much Tayuya chan, it is unbefitting of a lady to speak like that! " Chastised Jirobo, a tall, chubby seven year old boy with brown eyes and an orange coloured mawhawk with orange tufts of hair behind his ears. He is however not just fat as there are signs of muscle mass beneath his chubby appearance and is wearing the black spandex shorts with black shinobi sandals and a tan sleeveless tunic with a purple rope belt tied around his waist.

"Yeh since you know so much about being a lady why don't you start acting like one at the dinner table fatso! And stop fucking using affectionate suffixes with my name!" Replied Tayuya irritably.

"I'm going to pretend that I didn't hear that and invite our new comrade to come and share a meal with us, how about it, Namikaze san?" Asked Jirobo.

"Sure, that would be cool, my treat ne?" Offered Naruto.

"Sure, why not." Replied Jirobo with a sinister glint in his eyes.

"Uh...that won't be neccessary, you're the new member of our super squad, why don't you just let us treat you instead, consider it a welcome gesture!" Said Sakon hastily, a seven your old boy with dark grey hair with one bang that covers his right eye. Sakon seems to be wearing turquoise lipstcik and brown eye-liner, making his appearance seem more feminine. He is also wearing a brown tunic with long black wrist bands, black skin tight shorts and a purple rope belt around his waist with black ninja sandals. The boy is also wearing a dark red bead-like necklace around his neck and has a a giant scroll attached to his back. The most perculiar thing about his appearance though is the second head that seems to be sticking out of his upper back.

"Na that's okay, I insist!" Said Naruto.

_'What a fool, can't he see that I was trying to save him from Jirobo? Oh well, aint my problem anymore, at least I tried.' _Thought Sakon.

"Alright then, your treat it is." Said Sakon with an amused smirk.

"Kukuku! I see you have already made some friends Naruto kun, you work really fast don't you." Said Orochimaru with a hissing serpent like voice.

"Just trying to settle in to my new home as quickly as possible, Orochimaru sama." Replied Naruto, unlike the others, he, Yakumo, and Karin were not shocked by his sudden appearance, having already sensed him coming quite a while ago.

"Kukuku! So it seems Naruto kun, so it seems..." Said Orochimaru.

"Orochimaru sama!" Greeted the sound four simulataneously, each of them dropping down to one knee and bowing their heads in respect for their master.

"Is it time for the test already? Damn, time flies fast, I didn't even get a chance to warm up." Said Naruto, shaking his head dramatically.

"I'm afraid so Naruto kun, come, walk with me." Ordered Orochimaru, turning around to walk out of the large training ground, not waiting for the blond to reply.

"Hai!" Saluted Naruto running up behind the snake sannin.

"Wait! Um...is it okay if we can also observe the test, Orochimaru sama?" Asked Yakumo. The Snake Sannin stopped for a few seconds to consider it before giving a firm nod in confirmation.

"Off course, in fact, I insist that you all come and watch, it should be a good show." Replied Orochimaru.

**0000000000000000**

**"If its a boy, I won't kill him, if its a girl, I will kill her!" **

_'What the hell is wrong with him? Has he gone mad?' _Thought Naruto.

He was inside a large hall that looked like it was some kind of training room or battle area. In the middle of the room was a four by four metre square cube made out of what looked like fibre glass. In the centre of the cube was an orange haired boy that did not look much older then he was, although significantly taller. The boy has spiky orange hair and similar coloured eyes. He is a well built 8 year old boy and the only item of clothing on him are black knee length shorts.

'_It seems like he hasn't noticed my presence yet, maybe this is some kind of surveilance box, like the ones used for interogation, he cannot see what is on the outside but people on the outside can see what is happening inside. It would make sense, given his apparent violent personality.' _Thought Naruto, watching the glass cube sink back into the ground, except this time not taking boy with it.

**"No, I have changed my mind! If it is a girl, I won't kill her, yes, the boy, I'll kill him if it is a boy!" **Shouted the boy hysterically with an expression that has the word _insanity _written all over it.

"What is your name?" Asked Naruto, staring at the boy with a rigid, battle ready posture, realising the danger he might be in with the boy no longer safely contained.

**"My name...is Jugo! Jet Booster Jump!" **Screamed the boy now identified as Jugo. Jugo, with incredible speed launched himself at his next victim, creating three jet-like appendages on his back and blasting himself forward at incredible speeds.

Jugo, in mid air, altered his arm into a piston before blasting a large concentration of chakra from the jet booster attached to his elbow to increase the velocity and power behind his attack.

**"Die! Piston Fist!" **Shouted Jugo, swinging his arm violently at the blond.

Naruto, not having expected an attack of that speed was unable to dodge in time and received a heavy punch that blasted him into the wall.

**"Hahahahaha! Ahahahaha! I killed him, I killed the boy! Ahahahaha!" **Laughed Jugo maniacly.

Meanwhile in a different room sat eight individuals watching the battle through an overhead projector seal. The battle arena was full of re-enforcement seals and most importantly, at least for the spectators, serveilance seals. The serveilance seals were linked to the overhead projector seal that projected the battle on the wall in six different angles to make sure that they didn't miss a single thing in the battle.

"Naruto kun!" Cried Yakumo with her hand covering her mouth in shock.

"N-no way, he...it can't be...he can't be dead!" Said Karin, tears threatening to spill from her eyes too. She hadn't spent that much time with the blonde, but Yakumo had told her so much about him and his painful past over the last two weeks that she might as well have known him that well. He was also kind and loving towards his friends from what she had seen of him.

"Hn, I wouldn't write off Naruto kun so soon if I were you Karin chan." Said Kabuto with a trademark upwards push of his classes, not excluding the smirk etched on his face.

"W-what do you mean, Kabuto sensei?" Asked the six year old Karin.

"Jugo's attack should have caused a lot more damage to the wall then that. Just watch, take a closer a look and you'll see what I mean." Said Kabuto cryptically.

_'I'm still alive? What is this? These scales on my body? Oh...Orochimaru sama will be pleased, it seems like I have been able to manifest the scales of the great Samehada, the experiment was a success!' _Thought Naruto.

Jugo stared at the, for lack of a better word, _monster _in front him. No longer was there any blonde hair or even human skin on his opponent's body, just large, thick scales covering everything, even the top of his head was now turned into spiky scales, though they still resembled the shape of his hair. The deep blue eyes were still visible and he had what looked like gills on his neck.

**"What happened, why did my attack lose power! No one has ever successfully blocked my piston fist before?" **Asked Jugo, the cursed markings spreading even more across his face, his left eye was already monster looking, with black sclere and golden irises.

"Your chakra, I ate your chakra from your attack, it was so...delicious! I'm going to shave you into pieces!" Shouted Naruto, swinging his scale covered arm against the orange haired boy's face.

**"Too slow! Destroying Axe Fist!" **Shouted Jugo, forming a massive axe on the back of his forearm and intercepting the blonde's attack.

**BOOM!**

A massive booming shockwave destroyed parts of the arena upon impact, creating a massive creator below the two boys. The wall on Naruto's back, where some of his scales had projected into started cracking from the impact despite the re-enforcement seals placed on them.

**"Hahahahaha! You're stronger then others! I'm going to enjoy killing you even more, Piston Fist: Style One!" **Screamed Jugo, creating two more jet-like appendages on his right elbow.

"Too slow!" Said Naruto in a manner not too different from the one Jugo used to mock him just moments ago. Naruto, with quick thinking, channelled as much chakra as he could into his legs and pushed himself off of the wall behind him to gain momentum, delivering a powerful punch on Jugo's torso that sent him sailing into the other side before he could excecute his own deadly attack. Naruto absorbed so much chakra from him that all the chakra Jugo had gathered in his pistons diappeared completely.

Jugo landed harshly on his back and his body dug a long trench into the ground, such was the power behind the attack.

_'My body has gotten stronger somehow, there is no way the force of my legs should have propelled me with that much speed and strength. And there is no way that I should have been able to withstand the force of his attacks even with the scales to protect me, I should have been sent flying and the pressure on my joints should have been too much to withstand. In any case this battle is over, there is no way he should be able to fight after that, I took a lot of chakra from him and shaved chunks off of his torso, he's definately out cold.' _Thought the blonde just before his eyes widened in shock, watching the orange haired Jugo get up on his feet despite his injuries, albeit with sluggish movements.

**"Hehehe! Ehehehe! Hahahahahahaha! I was right, you're much more fun then the others! I am going to enjoy killing you, I'll destroy you!" **Shouted Jugo, completely submitting to his killing tensencies. His skin turned a completely darker shade with black sclera in the eyes and a black stripe running from the middle of his forehead and down the bridge of his nose. A number of cannon like appendages grew on his back, contributing to his more then intimidating appearance and the injuries on his torso regenerated rapidly.

_'How can he still have this much chakra after I absorbed so much of it? What kind of monster is he? This form looks too dangerous for my liking, I don't think I can keep up with him in a taijutsu battle anymore, he was already too fast in his previous form, I don't want to have to see what kind of surprises he has for me in this form, I'll have to change tactics.' _Thought Naruto before going through rapid hand seals.

**"Water Element: Exploding Water Colliding Wave!" **Shouted the blond before spitting out a ridiculous amount of water from his mouth, filling up the whole battle arena to the brim.

Naruto's body, now submerged underwater went through another change. His scales receded back into his body but only for his body to transform again. His skin turned a darkish blue colour, his teeth sharpened and became shark like and a relatively long, shark like tail grew on his back. His face completely turned shark like and gills formed on his neck and shoulders with shark fins growing at the upper back of his arms with an even bigger pointed fin growing on his spine.

_'So, this is why the DNA source was refered to as the great shark skin sword, interesting, let us see what I can do in this form' _Thought Naruto.

_**'This guy...he also had another transformation level in store. I have no choice, I have to use that technique and end the battle in an instant, otherwise I'll just drown to death!' **_Thought Jugo.

Jugo, with the intent to kill his foe manipulated the chakra cannons on his back to face directly towards the location of his opponent, adding even more canons in the process.

_**'This is it, he won't be fast enough to escape this, even if he absorbs the chakra, he'll still die before he can absorb it all. And even if he dodges it, the wall behind him will be destroyed and the water will leak out, I'll be able to breathe again. Cursed Seal Chakra Blast!' **_Said Jugo mentally, firing numerous chakra blasts from his cannons to form a devastating technique.

_'I can't afford to get hit by that!' _Thought the blonde, swimming away from the danger at super fast speeds, so much so that Jugo didn't even see him move.

**Boom!**

The power behind Jugo's attack was immense, but so was the power of the re-enforcement seals protecting the walls of the arena. As a result, the damage to the walls from Jugo's attack was no where near the level that he had expected, but the plan was succesful nonetheless, a small hole could be seen on the heavily damaged wall where the water was slowly leaking out.

_**'I can't believe the wall was strong enough to withstand that, but one more shot will do it! One more shot before I kill this pest!' **_Thought Jugo furiously before something hard, fast, and painfull knocked him to the side at incredible speed. Jugo instantly noticed how his attack was immediately cancelled upon impact, his chakra disappearing from his cannons.

Before he could crash againt the far wall on the right, he was knocked to his left again, and again, and again and again, until it got to the point where he just couldn't defend himself at all. He wasn't a bad swimmer, but against this kind of opponent, he might as well have been, he couldn't even follow the guy's movements at all and not only did the attacks hurt him badly, but his chakra was being devoured very rapidly.

_'The absorbtion process is harder and slower when I have to suck out the chakra directly from his chakra coils, but still, any normal person should have been out of chakra by now, if I didn't know better I could have sworn that I was fighting against a jinchuuriki. Nevertheless I have the advantage here, he'll be knocked out in no time at all.' _Thought Naruto, swimming into the mad boy's back and delivering a devastating, chakra draining head butt.

_**'Kuso! The water level is dropping too slow...I...I don't think I can...hold on any longer...' **_Were Jugo's last thoughts before he passed out from chakra exhaustion, his skin receding back to its normal colour and texture.

**End Chapter**

**Alright that's it for now. Hope yaw enjoyed it somewhat.**

**Until next time.**


	3. Chapter 3

**DISCLAIMER: **I do not own Naruto or any other series that I might use for inspiration.

**CHAPTER 3**

**_Massacre and Recruitment_**

_'This feeling...this ominous feeling at the pit of my soul, I have to hurry back home, something is not right here, something is horribly wrong, I can feel it!' _Thought Itachi with an uncharacteristic hysterical facial expression, tree jumping with such haste and reckless abandon that some of the thick branches he landed on were breaking down immediately upon contact.

_'Sasuke, Kaa chan, please be safe, I'm on my way!' _Thought Itachi just as he landed on the dirt road, running on the straight path towards Konoha with haste.

_**Uchiha Clan Compound...**_

"K...kaa chan! I...I'm scared! I don't want to die...I don't want to lose you...k...Kaa chan!" Whispered a little boy with black hair that has a blue tint and onyx eyes. His bangs hang on both sides of his face to roughly frame his cheeks and is spiky in the back. The boy is wearing a black, long-sleeved shirt with a raised collar and the Uchiha crest on the back with white arm warmers and bear feet.

Tears were freely flowing from his eyes, he knew that the situation was hopeless, his kaa chan was already injured and his brother was only set to return from his mission in almost a week. To top it off, the rest of his clan was already dead, there was no one to save them, even if there was someone else from the clan alive, there wasn't much that the little 8 year old boy believed they could do to save them, only his brother was strong enough to fight on par with that traitor, even he knew that.

"Shhh..everything will be okay Sasuke chan, mommy will protect you from harm...sniff...all we have to do is get to the Hokage and report what happened, until then...sniff...kaa chan won't let anything happen to you, I pro...mise..." Trailed off Mikoto, stopping dead on her tracks, her eyes wide from pure unadulterated shock, her sudden halt caused her son, whom she had been dragging along to crash onto her behind, although she barely noticed that, her mind clouded with fear and anxiety.

_'How did he get there without me noticing? I knew he was very good with the Shushin no Jutsu, but this is ridiculous! There was no sound at all, no chakra trail to track and my sharingan didn't detect his presence until he was already standing before me, is he really using a shunshin? Or is he using some kind of transportation jutsu!' _Thought Mikoto fearfully, she was scared, she couldn't even remember a time when she was so frightened, not even on her first official mission as a genin was she so scared. She was not scared for herself though, but for her children, if she died here, then who would protect Sasuke chan from this man? Even if Sasuke lived, she didn't want him to grow up alone without any parents. She knew how horrible the life of an orphan could be, not from her own experiences, but she had seen it first hand from her friend Kushina and her husband, and even...even their son.

"Kushina, Minato, I...I'm so sorry, I...I failed you as a friend haven't I? What have I been doing all this time? What have I done to protect your child, to honor your sacrifice? I...I failed your son, but I won't fail my own son too! I..sniff...I will live, I will survive this curse and protect my children, and...and then I...I will adopt your son and take him as my own, I won't allow my family, our family to perish! I promise!" Shouted Mikoto with a fierce determination, blazing through rapid hand seals, the three tamoe on each of her eyes spinning menacingly.

_'K...Kaa chan, who is she talking to...' _Thought Sasuke, watching his mother blaze through hand seals that he could barely see in shock. He never knew his mother was a shinobi too, he'd always thought that she had just taken care of them as a loving mother forever, stupid really but still, it always felt like that to him.

"Yes that's it! I like the look you have in your eyes, that's what I wanted to see, that look of hope, determination, and self belief, I like it, and I like it even better when I see the look of despair, shame, and fear that follows when I have completely crushed all of that hope and determination." Said Shisui with a deadly stare in his sharingan eyes, he was wearing his regular, full A.N.B.U outfit with a tanto strapped on his back and the usual high collared blue, short sleeved top with a white armour over the top, concealing the clan symbol on his back.

**"Fire Element: Grand Fire Ball Technique!" **Screamed ou Mikoto, placing her right hand over her mouth and blowing are large, violent ball of fire through her funnel shaped hand. Sasuke subconciously noted how big his mother's fire ball was compared to the one that he had displayed for his father.

"Nice try, but a technique that slow will never hit me, I am however impressed by the sheer size of it, not even Itachi has been able to make one that size." Said Shisui from behind Mikoto and Sasuke, preparing to remove his aunt's head from her shoulders.

_'I...impossible! How did he get there so fast, how did he dodge a direct attack of that size so fast! This isn't real, it has to be a dream, it has to!' _Thought Sasuke hysterically.

_'I...I'm so pathetic, I couldn't even protect myself, nevermind my family, Sasuke kun, Itachi kun, I'm so sorry!' _Thought Mikoto, resigning herself to her impending death.

**CLANG!**

A loud clanging sound echoed in the deathly silence, shocking all three other parties present. Mikoto, who had closed her eyes snapped them open in silent shock, it was too good to believe but...

_'That chakra! It...it can't be...it's...'_

"W-what are you doing here Itachi? You're only supposed to come back in four days from your mission?" Asked Shisui in slight shock, breaking Mikoto from her thoughts and confirming what she already had suspected.

"Shisui, I'm only going to ask this once, and you better have a good explanation, why does it look like you were about to kill my mother and brother?" Asked Itachi, his eyes were almost dead, with no emotion at all but everyone present could feel the intensity of the fury and killing intent rolling off of him in waves.

"N...nii san!" Stuttered Sasuke with wide eyes, shocked but yet more than ever happy to see his big brother.

"Kaa chan, take Sasuke with you and find a safe spot to hide, I'll take of of this!" Ordered Itachi authoratively with a no nonsense kind of tone.

"H..hai sochi kun, arigatou and...Itachi kun..." Said Mikoto.

"What is it?" Asked Itachi.

"Be careful, and make sure you kill him, I don't want to lose you, I love you!" Said Mikoto with tears in her eyes.

"I will kill him, I promise, and I love you too, now go!" Said Itachi, not daring to even turn and look at her one last time, that would be a bad mistake and everyone knew it.

"Hai, let's go Sasuke chan!" Shouted Mikoto, grabbing Sasuke by his tiny right hand and dragging him along the dirt road.

"I can kill you now, now that there is no one to interfere,** Amateresu!**" Said Itachi, the tamoe in his right sharingan eye instantly connected to form a tri pronged shuriken, launching black flames in an attempt to incinerate his opponent from point black range.

Shushui, in an inhuman feat of reflex, skill, and speed dodged the technique with an instant shunsin, appearing on the younger prodigy's left hand side in order to blind side his dangerous right eye and aiming a slash towards his mid section. Itachi was barely able to keep up with his best friend, or rather, former best friend and first cousin, in fact, he wasn't able to keep up at all, the only reason he was able to protect himself being due to the arm guard on his left arm, otherwise he would never have been quick enough to swing his sword around to parry the attack.

**CLING!**

"You've grown quite well Itachi, and I see you have mastered the use of the **Mangyeko Sharingan **that I gave to you." Said Shishui with a cruel smirk on his face, pushing his blade harder against his younger cousin.

"What kind of fool do you take me for,I gained this power so that I can never lose a loved one again, I gained this power in order to protect my family and loved ones, this has nothing to do with you." Said Itachi, pushing back against the 16 year old, homicidal prodigy with the arm guard on his left hand and swinging his right arm over the top, aiming a vertical slash on Shishui's collar bone.

Shishui, quickly realising the danger shunshined again out of Itachi's reach, stopping not more then 10 metres in front of his opponent.

_'Overpowering him is impossible it seems, his shunshin and reaction time are just to fast. Not only that, but he is also somehow able to bypass all the side effects of the shunshin no jutsu, he doesn't leave a chakra tail, he doesn't have a chakra build up phase before initiating the jutsu and his technique is silent, leaving no sound trails either. It would however have been just fine if that was all there was to it, but no, that isn't all there is to it, far from it. His technique is at least two times faster then any shunshin I have ever heard of and he has mastered the sharingan visual prowess to the point that he doesn't even suffer from the disorientation that a person is subjected to after using shunshin no jutsu. No...mastering his sharingan has nothing to do it, many others have mastered the sharingan, his eyes are just special, a one in a million eye that surpasses the visual propensity of all others. How am I supposed to take down summone like that, someone who can't be touched?" _Thought Itachi before his eyes widened in realisation.

_'Genjutsu...that is the only way to beat him but...this is the best genjutsu user the Uchiha clan has ever had since Uchiha Izuna, can he really be beaten with a genjutsu?' _Thought Itachi, a feeling of doubt creeping its way into the surface of his consciousness.

"What's wrong Itachi, is this really the best you can do? I'm very disapointed in you, I had higher hopes for you, I even killed your girlfriend just so that you can have those eyes, and this is all you have done with the gift that I have given to you, really now?" Asked Shishui mockingly.

"W-what are you talking about? Masaki died of a rare virus that flushed her chakra and turned it into a poison against her body, how could you have killed her? I saw her die in front of my eyes!" Asked Itachi in shock and anger, unable to allow himself to believe in such a thing.

"Hn...hahahaha! Ahahahaha! Well, let us just say that I have my sources, who have very knowledgeable sources of their own, sources that consider it child's play to replicate that level of a virus in a form were it can be injected directly into the blood stream. You should be grateful, I had to use **Koto Amatsu Kami **on doctor Yakushi to get him to inject her during a check up she was scheduled for, that was two years ago, I won't be able to use that technique for another 8 years now. This is a sacrifice I made just so that I could give you those eyes, now stop being an ungrateful brat and thank me already. If you apologise, I might just let you live you know, ahahahahaha!" Laughed Shishui maniacly with what could and can only be considered an insane expression on his face.

"You..." Whispered Itachi, his bangs covering his face darkly.

"Huh...? Speak up, I can't hear you, I want to hear you apologise loud and clearly!" Shouted Shishui.

"Y...you bastard! I know...I know why you killed the clan, I'm not stupid you know! I knew you were a double agent all this time, I knew the clan wanted to attack the village and I know about how unfair our clan has been treated, and I also know that the solo mission I was sent on was in order to get me out of the village so that you may be able to slaughter the clan with success! I know all of this, it was easy to see with these eyes of mine..." Trailed off Itachi leaving Shishui fish eyed with his jaw hanging agape, shocked that Itachi had seen right through his act.

"Itachi...you..."

"But to go this far!" Shouted Itachi, cutting off Shishui mid sentence.

"Kaa chan, Sasuke, and Masaki, they're all innocent, they knew nothing of the planned rebellion, they were not involved, how dare you involve them in this, how dare you kill my Masaki, I'll kill you!" Shouted Itachi uncharacteristically, a gleem of insanity creeping into his eyes. The tamoe in his left eye were next to transform into a shuriken shape.

"You'll pay for this! **Tsukiyomi!**" Shouted Itachi hysterically.

Shishui didn't know what had happened, one second he was standing a few metres from his rival, and the next thing he knew he was tied down to a cross in a strange world with a red moon in the dark sky, also, everything seemed to be in black and white.

"This is the world of Tsukiyomi, in this world, I am a god itself, I control everything in here, even the time and space, this jutsu can't be dispelled, hence, for the next 72 hours, I will pass judgment unto you for all your sins and trangressions. This is for Masaki, and this is for trying to kill my precious Kaa chan and otouto, 71 hours 59 minutes and 59 seconds, 71 hours 59 minutes and 58 seconds..." Said Itachi, proceeding to stab his opponent in many places around his torso, adding a clone of himself after each stab to help him.

"Arg! Gwaaaaah! Aaaaaah!" Cried Shishui in pain, feeling the worst kind of pain he had ever felt in his life. Some of the stab wounds were not meant to be survived, and some of them should have exceeded his pain treshold and put him in a coma, but neither that nor death seemed to be possible in this world, forcing him to endure what his brain would not have otherwise allowed him to.

"How does it feel huh? How does it feel when you're the one at the receiving end of the pain huh, Shishui nii?" Asked Itachi in mad elation, somehow feeling overjoyed by his actions, maybe this was what they meant when they talked about the bitter sweetness of vengeance. The torture session carried on like that for almost three days.

"Gwaaah! Aaaaah! Please, please end it, just end it already! I can't take any more of this!" Cried Shishui, the bangs of his hair hanging down over his face.

"Yes, I believe we have come to the end of your torture education, I will ruthlessly kill you now without remorse like the lowly scum that you are." Said one of the many Itachi clones in the crowd, unsheathing his tanto and preparing to remove the genjutsu prodigy's head.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you, Itachi kun!" Said a voice strangely familiar from behind the clone. The clone, and all the others turned around to see what was going on, only for all their eyes to widen in shock. There, a few feet behind them stood a healthy Uchiha Shisui looking no different then he did before they captured him in the **tsukiyomi**, except for one difference, his left eye had taken a **mangyeko sharingan** form.

"Y...you! How did it you get there?" Asked the clones simultaneously.

"What are you talking about, I've been here the whole time..." Replied Shishui nonchalantly.

"N..nani? If you're there then...then who have we been...?" Asked the clones simultaneously.

"Hehehe! The person you have been torturing all this time is...Uchiha Itachi!" Replied Shisui with a cruel smirk on his face. The clones, all in shock, simulataneously whooped their heads around, only to stare in shock at the unbelievable truth of Shishui's words, there on the cross, with numerous stab wounds on his body was Uchiha Itachi, impaled on the cross helplessly.

"Hehehehe! Itachi, you must be no doubt wondering what on earth is happening aren't you? Well, I'll do you a favor and explain it you, this is the second power of my ocular powers, the power born of my left eye, **Sakanade**! With this genjutsu I can collapse whatever world I'm in and create an reversed and inverted world, where everything is the opposite of what it is supposed to be. In this world, left is right, up is down, front is back and shishui on the cross is actually Itachi on the cross, everything is inverted. I must command you on such I powerfull genjutsu Itachi kun. **Tsukiyomi **really is an amazing genjutsu, I would never have been able to break it until too much damage had been done already, to think that you were able to force me to resort to this is a testement of your growth and skill, you should be proud of yourself." Said Shishui in a condensing tone, even though he was complementing his friend turned foe.

_'He created his own world inside my tsukiyomi? How is something like that even possible! I can't believe I was tricked into torturing myself for almost three days, to think that I was the one screaming in pain all this time...how pathetic...' _Thought Itachi.

_**3**_

_**2**_

_**1**_

72 hours ended shortly after Itachi's latest thoughts and the two combatants found themselves back once again in the real world. Itachi's left eye was bleeding profusely, so much so that the blood was trickling down on the ground in front of him and his breaths were short and haggard, a sign of an exhausted and severely injured person. Not only that but his legs were shaking and his arms trembling, it was taking him every reserve of his will power just to remain standing, much less fight against an S class homicidal criminal.

"Heh, you look like you're going to die on your feet Itachi. You know, I didn't want to have to kill you, I wanted to leave you alive as the sole surviving Uchiha, I wanted you to hate me with all of your being and I wanted to make your goal to be revenge against me. This way, you could one day kill me and become the hero of Konoha that defeated the dispicable and unforgivable criminal and scourge of the village. I wanted you to keep the flame burning, rebuild the Uchiha clan as the loyal and proud shinobi clan of Konoha, and, I wanted you to break the barrier between our clan and the village and become the first Uchiha Hokage, I did everything I did with this goal in mind. But now that I know, now that I know just how much of the truth you know, I'm going to have to kill you and let Sasuke live instead. He was my back up plan after all." Explained Shishui.

"I...I won't let you... cough cough...get your hands on him." Said Itachi, coughing up globs of blood from his mouth.

"We'll see..." Was all Shishui said, disappearing from Itachi's view and appearing on his right side in an instant with his sword poised to stab him under his arm on his kidney. Itachi quickly tried to parry the attack, but to his great shock and Shishui's amusement, instead felt something extremely hot piercing him through his left shoulder from behind. Itachi looked to his left side only to his amazement, instead of Shishui's tanto, as he expected, to be piercing his shoulder, was what looked like a bright red sword made out of chakra.

_'This is fire natured chakra that has been concentrated and solidified into a this form with shape manipulation. But I have never heard of such a level of combining shape and nature manipulation, there aren't even any flames of fire surounding the sword, it just looks like red chakra, yet I can tell with my eyes that this is fire manipulation, Shishui, just what kind of training have you been doing? You defy everything that I have been taught and discovered about ninjutsu, just what are you?' _Wondered Itachi.

"**Fire Style: Sabre! **This is a jutsu of my own creation, this jutsu condenses and concentrates fire natured chakra into this sword shape, causing chakra vibrations that exponentially increase the penetrating and incinerating power of my fire techniques to a level of my own, Itachi, this sword is hotter then the sun itself and will pierce anything that I wish to destroy, you have no chance of winning, give up!" Said Shishui arrogantly.

"Hn, did you know, that the first thing you taught me was to never underestimate my opponents, no matter how much I know about them?" Asked Itachi with a small smile on his face, his body shimmering slightly and even becoming intangible before completely disappearing.

**"Yasaka Magatama!" **Whispered Itachi from a small distance behind Shishui, launching a shuriken shaped energy made up of three magatama connected together by a small string, causing the jutsu to spin rapidly like a shuriken at great speeds.

**BOOM!**

The technique crashed on the ground and exploded upon impact, creating a loud booming sound that left a giant creater on the ground. When the dust and debris settled down, Itachi was able to see a significant splat of blood on the ground.

_'Its over, I can't believe it, this is too good to be true!' _Thought Itachi with a tired smile on his face.

"What's with the smug expression, Itachi, you look like someone that has just won a difficult battle?" Asked Shishui, who was now standing behind his opponent, staring with an impressed expression on his face at the spiritual entity that Itachi had been able to manifest around his body.

_'So this is the third power of your mangyeko sharingan, __**Susano'o**__, impressive, Itachi.'_ Thought Shishui.

"H...how?" Asked Itachi, not really that surprised that his opponent was still alive, it had been to good to be true anyway if you asked him.

"I told you before, in my world, front is back, up is down, and left is right, Shishui in front of Itachi is Shishui behind Itachi. But more importantly, that illussionery technique you used to trick me, that was Uchiha Izuna sama's forbidden Kinjutsu wasn't it, a powerful illusionery ninjutsu that distorts the time and space itself, a clone technique that can even fool the best sensor type shinobi, impressive, that you have been able to learn such a technique, was that your trump card for defeating me?" Asked Shishui passively, trying to play off the pain on his left arm that was bleeding profusely.

"I don't have to explain anything to you, you can't do anything to me, all your jutsu have become useless before my eyes, nothing can penetrate my **Susano'o**...Gwaaah!" Grunted Itachi, cut off mid sentence by a sharp and burning pain in his right shoulder this time.

"I thought I already told you, my **Fire Style: Sabre**'s incinerating power will cut through anything like a knife through butter, **Susano'o **included." Said Shishui with his right arm extended forward, a red chakra emanating from his hand.

_'This shouldn't be possible, how could his jutsu be able to penetrate even my fully formed __**Susano'o**_?' Thought Itachi to himself before falling flat on his face, the spiritual warrior that had formed around his body shimmering and eventually disappearing a few seconds later.

"This is the end of the line Itachi, for what it's worth, I'm sorry." Apologised Shishui with a pained expression on his face that he was trying to hide.

**"Eight Trigrams: Double Mountain Crushing Vacuum Palms!" **Shouted a rough and mature voice, Shishui who was not expecting such an attack found himself at the receiving end of a ridiculously powerful and wide area attack, he felt like his rib cage had just been shattered into pieces. If he hadn't channeled so much chakra around his body for protection, he would have still died, the only reason he wasn't was because he had managed to avoid most of the first air palm and completely avoided the second with his super fast shunshin.

"What took you so long...cough...cough...Hiashi san?" Aske Itachi from his position on the ground, just barely able to lift up his head to gaze at the Hyuga clan head.

"I apologise for my tardiness Itachi kun, to be honest, I wasn't sure what to make of your request, it sounded strange and unbelievable, but nevertheless rest assured that I will take care of the enemy. I know exactly why you chose me, I'm the one with the best counter abilities to Shishui's techniques, the only one who can defeat him." Said Hyuga Hiashi, a man with long, black hair and featureless white eyes like all members of his clan wearing very traditional, loose fitting robes with a cloak and a stern, stoic expression chiselled on his face. Large and visible veins were protruding on his face around his eyes, contributing to his already intimidating physical appearance. What Shishui found most perculiar about his appearance the most though, was the black crow situated on the man's right shoulder...

**End Chapter**

**Year I know cliffy sucks, but I promise to update again in a week a two. And I apologise in advance for the lack of Naruto, Yakumo and Oto relations in this chapter, but his chapter was important for the remainder of the story and I promise the next chapter will focus on Naruto and for the most part, Oto.**

**Shishui's genjutsu, if you haven't guessed already is a variation of the one used by Hirako Shinji as his shikai in bleach. The leader of the Vizards.**

**His Fire Style Sabre is inspired the the weapons used in Star Wars.**

**Anyway the next chapter will begin with the Hiashi vs Shishui battle and then we will move on to end that scene and move on to Naruto and Oto.**

**If you hadn't figured it out yet, Shishui is joining Akatsuki, pretty obvious really and I will reveal his third power in due time.**

**Spelling mistakes and grammer will be fixed in a day or two, thanks, hope yaw enjoyed it.**


	4. Chapter 4

**DISCLAIMER: **I do not own naruto or any other series or movie I might use for inspiration.

**CHAPTER 4**

_**Massacre and Recruitment Part 2**_

"H-Hyuga Hiashi...fancy meeting you here of all places...cough cough!" Said Shishui in between coughing fits.

_'That crow on his shoulder...there's no doubt about it, that's one of Itachi's crow summons! He must have sent it ahead to get help before he came to do battle against me, but why did he not go to inform the A.N.B.U or the Hokage, does he really not trust the higher ups that much? The only reason I can think of, besides the fact that he chose the perfect opponent for me, is that he wanted someone from another clan to witness this in order to ensure his and his family's protection, after all, the Hokage wouldn't order the complete annihilation of a clan in front of another clan head, the clans would desert the village if they ever found out. Damn you Itachi, just how far ahead did you plan for this?' _Thought Shishui angrily.

"You're injured and half exhausted already, as a member of the noble Hyuga clan, I would have rather fought you at your full strength, but as a shinobi of the Hidden Leaf Village, it matter not, I will kill you right here and now for your transgressions...Uchiha Shishui!" Said Hiashi, adopting the traditional Hyuga initial battle stance. The crow on his shoulder dispelled itself in a puff of smoke, having completed its mission and not wanting to be caught in the cross fire.

"We'll see about that...!" Replied Shishui ominously.

Suddenly, the atmosphere became thick and heavy with the immense killing intent the two foes were directing at each other, staring at each other with fierce determination, their respective doujutsus never looking any more menacing then they did in that instant. A heavy breeze picked up all of a sudden, as if to encourage the soon to be blood shed that was about to ensure.

_'I've already expended almost half of my chakra and my left arm has ceased functioning while he is fresh and ready for battle, moreover, this is the most powerful member of the Hyuga clan, a clan with strength and ocular prowess that rivals our own. A very unfavorable situation, demo...'_

_"_To put someone in a genjutsu, one has to transfer their chakra to their opponent's chakra system, and then in turn use that chakra to manipulate the victim's senses of observation, hearing, smell, taste, and touch by manipulating their nervous system. But, that method does not work so well against a Byakugan master, who has the ultimate visual perception of chakra, furthermore, our clan's chakra manipulating abilities, especially with regards to expelling chakra from our bodies make it that much easier for us to get rid of the foreign chakra in our system. You get it right? You don't have a chance against me, I'll give you one more chance to forfeit and turn yourself in." Said Hiashi with a touch or arrogance.

"Hn, perhaps you are right, indeed a master Byakugan user such as yourself will be able to see through and dispell my genjutsu with ease, demo, that does not mean that you are immune to genjutsu, you can still be affected by my jutsu, even if only for a split second, that is more than enough for me to finish the battle!" Replied Shishui. In that instant, his left eye reverted back to his mangyeko form before he disappeared in a silent shunshin.

Shishui quickly appeared on Hiashi's right hand side with a tanto in his right hand poised to stab his opponent through the side and through his kidney, but Hiashi reacted too fast for his young foe, twisting around quickly with a horizontal slash of his chakra covered hand.

"Your teleportation speed is the best, but as the supreme master of the the Hyuga's taijutsu style, my strike rate and speed are unrivalled, now die you lowly...!" Trailed off Hiashi, watching in silent shock as his hand just fazed through his opponent.

"Behind you Hiashi san, and...its over!" Said Shishui from behind the Hyuga clan head, attempting a decapitating slash on Hiashi's neck only for his eyes to widen in shock when chakra barrier deflected his tanto to the side.

"A genjutsu that creates an inverted world where everything is the opposite of what it appears to be, an interesting and no doubt powerful jutsu indeed. Demo...did you really believe that you could sneak up on someone who has a three sixty degree line of vision?" Asked Hiashi with an uncharacteristic sinister smirk on his face.

_'What is this chakra?' _Thought Shishui to himself before his eyes widened even more, if that was even possible.

_'Chakra that is strong and solid enough to not only be manifested outside of the body in its purest form, but also enough so that it can redirect even a strong weapon like a tanto...impossible, this is...!" _

"You figured it out? But too late! **Kaiten**!" Shouted Hiashi, spinning around so fast that the chakra shroud around him, with the help of shape manipulation, turned into a giant spinning dome of blue chakra.

Shishui was not fast enough to completely avoid the jutsu from such a close range, more so because of the sheer size of the jutsu. Shishui, backwards at rapid speeds and crashing into and through some of the surrounding buildings of the Uchiha clan could not help but wonder how someone can create a jutsu of that size and magnitude with raw chakra alone. That sphere must have been at least two and a half times bigger then any he had ever seen before.

"If your opponent is too fast and elusive, then destroy him with an instant, and wide area counter attack, no matter how fast you are, there is only so much that a human can do as long as they rely on movement, only an instant transportation technique like the one used by the Fourth Lord could have been able to avoid that attack within my range." Said Hiashi without a shred of emotion, which was truly the complete opposite of what he was actually feeling, there was absolutely no better high then fighting and being close to defeating what was currently the strongest member of his clan's arch rival clan.

"Cough...Hiashi...cough cough...san, is it over?" Asked Itachi, who had silently managed to move himself away from the immediate battle scene, now leaning tiredly against the wall of an 'abandoned' building close by.

"No, that wouldn't have been enough to kill him, his chakra system is still working relatively fine and he is getting up. It would appear that he was still able to avoid most of my attack, I was only able to crack a few of his ribs, what an elusive guy." Replied Hiashi.

"I see...cough...I'm losing a lot of blood, do you think you could...cough cough...end it quickly?" Asked Itachi.

"Brace yourself, he's coming back, in your weakened condition, he might try to use you as a hostage, make sure that doesn't happen." Ordered Hiashi.

"H-hai." Replied Itachi.

"Hehehehehehehe! Ehehehehehehe! Ahahahahahahahahaha! Hahahaha!" Laughed Shishui manicaly, limping out of the gaping hole in one of the buildings that he had crashed against.

"What do you have to laugh at? You can't hide anything from these eyes of mine, do you really think that there is anything you can do in your physical condition?" Asked Hiashi with narrowed eyes.

"Hahahaha! Do you fools honestly think that you are the only ones that know how to plan ahead? My goal is to exterminate the Uchiha clan and it shall be done!" Shouted Shishui with an insane facial expression.

"Planned ahead? What are you talkin about?" Asked Itachi nervously, a sinking feeling eating at the bottom of his stomach.

"Before I attacked the clan, I created a shadow clone and had it hide its presence until a good opportunity presented itself. This opportunity presented itself when you allowed Aunt Mikoto and Sasuke kun to be seperated from you, because...the clone has only one order to fulfill before the end of its existense, to eliminate Uchiha Mikoto and Uchiha Sasuke!" Explained Shishui with a mad smirk on his face.

Itachi's eyes widened in shock and dispair, his eyes on the verge of tears and his lower lip quivering. His life flashed back right in front of his eyes, all the times that his mother took care of him when he hurt himself during training, all the times he played with and tought Sasuke some shuriken techniques. His mother's loving smile and his brother's look of admiration when he made it into the A.N.B.U squads. And then lastly, an image of his two remaining loved ones lying face first on the ground with large pools of blood beneath them flashed on his mind, a demonized face of Shishui hanging above the image, laughing madly at his predicament.

"Itachi, north east 3 miles away, hurry up, the clone hasn't found them yet! Snap out of it boy!" Shouted Hiashi, the veins around his eyes enlarging even more in concentration. Itachi was immediately broken from his self loathing and disappeared in a quick burst of speed without even replying.

_'Hiashi! Damn you and those eyes!' _Thought Shishui angrily.

"In his current condition, even a clone might be too much trouble for him. I didn't want to have to use this technique, but you leave me no choice, I have to end this quickly so that I can help Itachi. Be proud of yourself Shishui, you are the first person to witness this secrete Hyuga technique." Said Hiashi, taking a strange stance, similar but significantly different to the **eight trigrams sixty four palms**.

"That stance, do you really think I will allow you to engage me in a taijutsu battle? Earlier, you said that my teleportation speed was useless if my strike rate was slower then yours, well, it works both ways, your strike speed is useless when I can simply run away with my teleportation speed." Retorted Shishui.

"Do not be mistaken, this is not a taijutsu attack, this is a secret Hyuga clan ninjutsu!" Replied Hiashi, his body emitting lightning transmissions from head to toe.

**"EIght Trigrams: 256 Byakurai Shots!" **Said Hiashi, pointing his index and middle fingers together and curling the rest of the fingers into his hand, the Hyuga clan head was able to shoot a great number of lightning bolts from his finger tips at hypersonic speeds, all aimed towards his opponent with the intent to kill.

Shishu tried his best to dodge as many as he could with his super speed, but it wasn't enough, not only were the lightning bolts too fast, but there were just too many of them to dodge.

_'Gwaah!...at this rate, the only thing I can manage is to avoid getting damage in my vital areas, but I can't stop all of them from hitting me! I can't believe this guy had such a jutsu up his sleeve, has the Hyuga clan really been this strong all this time?' _Thought Shishui, trying to resist the pain of having his arms and shoulders punctured right through like paper, heck some of the bolts were penetrating even five and six buildings as far as he could count, even the chakra shroud he was maintaining around his body was rendered useless.

"One hundred and twenty eight shots...Two hundred and fifty six shots!" Shouted Hiashi.

_'I can't believe it, he's getting even faster the higher the number of shots he throws! I will die if I don't do something about this...there's no way around it, I will have to use that jutsu...to think that someone not even of Uchiha descent could force me to use the third power of my eyes...ridiculous!' _Though Shishui, closing his eyes only for a split second and then openning them with both of his eyes in mangyeko form.

A large vaccum like portal appeared out of thin air just as Shishui was about to use his third power, sucking in all of the lightning bolts that Hiashi had directed towards the homocidal Uchiha.

**"You don't have enough chakra left to use that jutsu...Shishui! What would be the point of protecting yourself from your enemy's jutsu only to die from chakra exhaustion afterwards? Come, there's nothing left for you here!" **Said a dark and sinister voice from inside the space time technique, Shishui, not given a chance to protest was also sucked into the vacuum after all the lightning bolts were disposed off.

"W...who or w-what are y-you!" Sputtered Hiashi uncharacteristically.

**"My name shall be revealed to you at a later time, but if you must know, I am Shishui's mentor. I'm impressed and surprised that you were able to defeat Shishui, you remind me of the founder of your clan, Hyuga Seiko! You have the same look he used to have, his blood is strongly manifest in you..." **Replied the Mysterious voice from the portal.

"Hyuga Seiko? You speak of him as if you knew him personally, but that would mean that you're...impossible!" Shouted Hisahi with a shake of the head.

**"My power is vast and limitless, nothing is impossible to me! We shall meet again in the future, you will have your rematch with Shishui when we come back to destroy this village, count on it..." **Replied the strange voice, trailing off as the portal disappeared from the space.

_'What on Kami's earth was that! And that chakra...I've never felt anything like that before...!' _Thought Hiashi.

'_My hands are shaking and my body is trembling! Was his presence really that powerful, to leave me feeling like this even after he was gone? More importantly, who was that and what was his relation to Shishui besides being a mentor? Was he another Uchiha? No! There has never been a rogue Uchiha shinobi since Uchiha Madara, and he's dead! I will have to think about this later, I have to go and help Itachi!' _Thought Hiashi, disappearing with a leaf shunshin...

**CHAPTER END**

**I know it was short, but I guess that would be expected since I only wrote this in the space of two and a half hours.**

**As you all can guess, Hiashi's jutsu is a variation of one of the kido techniques used in bleach, except used with raiton chakra and in combination with the eight trigrams 64/128/256 palms technique.**

**I guess I don't need to tell you who saved shishui, you all already know that.**

**I apologise again for the lack of Naruto, last chapter I promised I would reveal him and where/ what he was doing, but didn't, I apologise for making such an apparently empty promise.**

**This chapter was really short, but if you look at the bright side, it might mean quicker updates, I think I could possibly update again in two days or even tommorrow depending on how I feel, I couldn't write much today because I didn't sleep last night and it was hard to concentrate because of that.**

**In any case, let me just say that the next chapter will be Naruto centred, in fact, I have already begun writting the first paragraph and it starts off with an Oto scene, so yeah.**

**I was meaning to add Suzumebachi to the Harem, but I don't know, think it might be too many girls, but I will let you guys decide, depending on how many people actually want her then I will make a final decision.**

**I will leave this chapter hanging here and you will probably not hear of what transpires after this for quite a while, until the chuunin exams maybe, but I will touch back on it when it becomes relevant to the story, like I said before, these last two chapters are very important for the story.**

**Don't worry if the story seems scattered and unplanned, I will pull it together in no time, you'll see, this story is planned up until the ninja war just like my other two stories.**

**The Title of the next chapter is...**

**'The Demon Of The Mist vs The Shark Monster Of Oto.' **

**Hope you guys enjoyed it so far, tell me what you think.**

**Good day.**


	5. Chapter 5

**DISCLAIMER: **I do not own Naruto or any series or movie that I might use for inspiration.

**CHAPTER 5**

_**Demon Of The Mist vs Shark Monster Of Oto**_

**Otogakure no Sato...**

"So...how can I help you today, Karin chan? I was under the impression that today was suppose to be your break from training, or was there something that I misunderstood about our schedule?" Asked Kabuto, pushing up his glasses into position with the tip of his forefinger with a trade mark smirk engraved on his facial features.

They were in one of the many lab rooms in the main base of Oto, this is where Karin had known that her sensei would be, experimenting with Jugo's cursed dna in order to improve on Orochimaru's cursed seal. They needed to finish the project before the beginning of the next year, that was their target, the **Sound Four's **lives depended on it. If they didn't manage to reduce the death rate and manage to improve the subject's mental control post survival of the cursed seal implant, then they might as well have signed the death warrants for their comrades, something that was not an option to both if them, but for different reasons.

Kabuto didn't want to lose the sound four because they were key figures in Orochimaru's sama's plans and were even potential hosts for his master. Whereas Karin on the other hand didn't want to lose them because they were her dear friends and she even considered them family. Naruto and Yakumo's bond had influenced the youth of Oto a great deal since they arrived, never before had any faction in Oto been so united, things had changed ever since those two arrived almost two years ago. Even Jugo Of The Scales was now a part of the official forces. Yakumo and Naruto had made short work of that. A simple, according to them, combination of Naruto kun's sealing techniques and Yakumo chan's mind barriers was apparently more then enough to lock away Jugo's alter ego even when he went full curse mode. Sure, the guy became much more sadistic and violent when he went curse mode, but without the alter ego to take over his conciousness, he still retained the ability to reason, strategize, and recognise comrades during battle. Karin supposed she shouldn't have been surprised that those two were able to help Jugo, after all, they were in similar situations to him, with Yakumo chan's Ido demon, and Naruto kun's bijuu, they could easily be considered to have once been in similar situations to Jugo, they understood him most and knew best how to help him.

Naruto and Jugo had been like brothers ever since then, commonly refered to and recognised as the Monster brothers of Oto.

Yakumo's situation was strange and intruiging to Karin's scientific mind. Apparently, the Ido demon wasn't as evil as everyone had thought it to be...okay maybe it was just as evil as everyone thought it was, but it had no ill intentions towards Yakumo whatsoever and in fact loved her so much apparently.

Everything it had done, was done in order to protect its master, well, according to its own twisted sense. It had killed Yakumo's parents because it recognised them as the source of her pain. Her parents had put so much pressure on her at such a young age to alone shoulder the burden of securing the clan's future as a shinobi clan. And then, when Kurenai gave up on her because of her physical condition, they had, instead of encouraging her and believing in her, also basically told her that they didn't believe in her anymore and that she should try and take up another career. Sure they hadn't said it like that and had meant no ill will to her, but the effect was nevertheless the same. Yakumo had been hurt and devastated and Ido had reasoned that getting rid of her source of pain would make things better, and so killed her parents.

Ido had also planned to follow up by killing Kurenai and the Hokage for hurting her Yakumo chan, but had been sealed before she could do that. Nevertheless, Yakumo now had a good understanding with Ido and even considered her as a mother figure, although the roles were reversed, with Yakumo being the one that carried the burden of teaching Ido what was okay to do and what wasn't, what was right or wrong, and who she could help her kill and couldn't kill.

"Um...you see um...I need you to help me with something really important Kabuto sensei, its for my kunoichi training." Replied Karin, trying to supress her nerves as much as possible.

"Oh...well, you know I'm always willing to help you Karin chan, you are after all my prized student. Go on, ask me anything and I will do it, if it is within my capabilities off course." Said the twelve year old medical shinobi prodigy.

_'Damn you Karin what are you so scared of, sensei may be a psychotic, mad scientist, but he's been a lot kinder since he became friends with Naruto kun. Ok maybe not kind exactly, but still, he seems much less...less insane, and less cruel.' _Thought Karin.

"Um...you see, I was having this talk with Naruto kun before he left for his mission and um...you see, Naruto kun said that there was something special about me...um...Kabuto sensei, could you please help me discover all the hidden secretes of my body? I know you are the only one that knows the human body well enough to do it right, please sensei!" Pleaded Karin desperately, her voice rising accidentally at the end.

Kabuto's eyes widened in shock and...what...was that fear and anxiety? He couldn't believe what the seemingly sweet and innocent little girl had just asked of him, it couldn't be really happening could it? She couldn't be asking what he thought she was asking...could she? Either then the fact that...well, the fact that she was too young for such things, heck even he was barely old enough to do such things, what more for an eight year old little girl, but more importantly, wasn't she supposed to be infatuated with Naruto kun? Everyone who knew anything in Oto knew that much, she never bothered to make it a secrete...okay well she did, but the attempt was so lame and unconvincing, only a fool wouldn't see through that!

'_No way! This isn't possible! I must have missed something, I misintepreted her words somehow! Yes, this is the ninja world, nothing is ever as it seems!' _Thought Kabuto, trying to convince himself despite the situation seemingly having nothing to do with the ninja world or ninja arts.

"U-um...Karin chan...um...could you please tell me what exactly you and Naruto kun talked about? Perhaps I might gain a better understanding of the s-situation and be able to h-help you b-better." Said Kabuto nervously, although Karin remained oblivious to his discomfort, too caught up in her own thoughts.

"O-oh! Um...I..uh...I understand." Replied Karin with a light blush on her cheeks.

**FLASHBACK NO JUTSU**

_"Aaaaw Naruto kuuun, when are you going to take me on date huh? I know you want to, stop denying yourself the happiness that you deserve, that we both deserve!" Purred Karin, her arm tightly wrapped around Naruto's own with her head resting on his shoulder. They were walking together in the dark corridors of Oto's underground main base, Naruto was on his way to meet up with his team for their first S rank mission, and Karin had made sure to intercept him before he got there so that she could get the alone time with Naruto kun that Yakumo had selfishly stolen from her, at least that's how her immature logic interpreted the situation._

_"Never...at this rate, I will never even consider going on a date with you!" Said Naruto cruelly, stopping dead on his tracks with a deep frown on his face._

_"W-what...you can't be serious! I thought that you cared about me, you said so yourself! You said I was your precious person, was that a lie? I knew it, you're just like the others! The ones that used to lie and make fun of me behind my back! What, was it some big joke...sniff...did you just say that so that you could make fun of me..sniff sniff...I...I...I hate you!" Shouted Karin in anger and anguish, tears freely flowing from her eyes as she turned and ran away, only to be stopped by a firm grip on her wrist._

_Karin screamed, cursed, cried, and tried valiantly to untangle herself, god she hated him! How dare he use her like that, how dare he play with her feelings like that. She was so angry she could just...she could just...just god she wanted to do something very very bad to him. _

_Naruto patiently waited for her to calm down, there was no way he was going to let her be on her own in her mental and emotional condition. He needed her to hear him out and he was going to make her listen whether she wanted to or not. He wasn't giving her a choice here, he would do anything to protect his precious people, and this was just one of those things that he was willing to do, even if it hurt her so much, even if it hurt **him **so much. Eventually the beautiful red head calmed down enough to be able to listen to him, realising that any attempts to escape his unnaturally strong grip were futile._

_"Why...why did you do this, why are you doing this to me Naruto kun, I-I thought that you loved me. Don't I mean anything to you, everything that I've done for you, all the nice times we had together, these passed two years, didn't they mean anything to you?" Whispered Karin softly, hurt and desperation audible in her voice as she clung tightly to the blonde, her face burried into his chest. _

_"Karin, I want nothing more then your happiness, but you have to understand, there is no point in us being together if I have such a negative effect you..."_

_"Negative effect, what the hell do you mean you baka, I've never been happier ever since I met you, how can you call that a negative effect!" Screamed Karin angrily at Naruto's face, staring angrily at his eyes in hope of maybe seing through his heart, and maybe even his soul._

_"Karin...you haven't grown since the first day I met you, infact, you've regressed. You no longer focus on the most important things, you're too busy with fashion and making yourself pretty instead of focusing on your ninja career. Sure, your medical and scientific knowledge has grown in leaps and bounds, but you have not applied that into anything that could help you in battle. How do you plan to protect yourself, much less your comrades when danger arises? I'm not saying this to be nasty or cruel, but at your current level, you have nothing to offer in battle besides your sensing abilities and healing, but how are you going to stay alive long enough to make that usefull? Have you thought about that?" Asked Naruto with a dead serious face._

_"I...I...um..." Sputtered Karin with teary eyes and a quivering lower lip._

_"Karin chan..." Said Naruto, crushing the slender girl into a warm embrace._

_"H-hai...sniff...Naruto kun..." _

_"I don't know if you have noticed, but there is something special about your chakra, your chakra is far more potent...no...that is the wrong term, I should rather say that your chakra is far more dense then anything I have ever heard of before. It is said that chakra is neither a gas nor a liquid, but something in between those two states. If we assume that to hold true for all persons, then you are without a doubt the exception, your chakra I would say is something between a liquid and a solid, I don't know, maybe that isn't an accurate description, but I'm sure you know what I'm trying to say." Explained Naruto neutrally._

_"Sniff...is...is that a bad thing...is there something wrong with my chakra! Will I be able to continue being..."_

_"Shhhhh...don't worry, I don't think this is a defect, after all, if you haven't had any problems with chakra control thus far, then there is nothing wrong with you. I think that it might be some kind of kekei genkei. Karin, you need to get strong, I care about you and I want to protect you with everything I have, but I'm not stupid, no matter how strong I get, I can't be god, there will be some times that I won't be there to protect you immediately, in which case you would have to hold your own for a while or even win on your own. I want you to be strong because I don't think I could bare it to lose you, Karin chan, I plan to rebuild the Uzumaki clan here in Oto, and I want you, I need you you to help me do that, I need you to be strong so that you can protect our future children when I am not around to do so, and to protect yourself. Karin chan, I need you to spend some time in the lab and try to discover what you can do with your kekei genkei, and to follow up by become as strong as you can. I need you to be strong because I love you and I don't want to lose you, I love you too much to allow that!" Said Naruto affectionately, showing maturity far ahead of his years._

_"Y-you really mean it...I have a kekei genkei and you really love me, you really love me Naruto kun?" Asked Karin with hope and desperation._

_"I'm not sure, but yes, I think it is a kekei genkei, what else could it be, there doesn't seem to be a negative effect on your body or chakra system, you probably haven't realised this trait about your chakra because you have never tried to sense your own chakra. And um...its true, that I love you!" Said Naruto with a deep blush beneath and around his whisker marks, but still managing a bright smile that was meant to look charming and endearing but looked more like an evil smirk with his triangular shark like teeth that had permanently developed shortly after his first shark transformation in his battle with Bipolar Jugo two years ago. But to Karin, nothing could have looked more charming and loving then he did in that moment, his eyes told her more then she could ever have asked for, he truly loved her, she was his precious person._

_"N-Naruto kun I...I...I love you too!" Shouted Karin, tightning her arms around the blond, she felt like she never wanted to let go ever again. If she died right now she would be the happiest woman alive. Naruto partially hated himself for hurting Karin chan, but at the same time he was happy he had said something, the way things were going would have led to her demise and he would have hated himself a thousand times more if he had allowed that to happen._

_"I promise I'll get strong Naruto kun, I won't fall behind anymore. I'll catch up to you and walk alongside you like a true partner, I won't disappoint neither you or myself, Its a promise of a lifetime!" Cried Karin with happy tears._

_"I know, I know you'll become strong, I believe in you, Karin chan." Said Naruto, petting his red princess on the head affectionately._

**FLASH BACK NO JUTSU END**

"I tried to sense my own chakra after that, I didn't think it was possible but I discovered that I can sense my chakra and any foreign chakra that enters my system. And...um...Naruto kun was telling the truth about my chakra, its so dense and strong...I...I need you to help me discover how I can use this to my advantage, please help me...Kabuto sensei!" Pleaded Karin, launchung a devastating puppy eyes technique that not even someone as cold as Kabuto could resist.

_'So that's what she meant! Phew! She could have at least worded it better.' _Thought Kabuto, sighing in relief.

"Hn, my my Karin chan, what an interesting development. You've got me, how can I not help you after stimulating my scienticfic curiosity like that, besides, you're my prized student, off course I'll help you." Said Kabuto.

"Really! Sugoi Kabuto sensei, when do we start huh...Kabuto sensei!" Asked Karin enthusiastically.

"Why Karin chan, what kind of question is that, we're going to start immediately off course." Said Kabuto with a mad gleem in his eyes.

**In the Land of Waves...**

"So, how are we going to do this, Guren sama?" Asked Jugo in a soft and subdued voice. Jugo, as the leader of the sound five had changed his outfit significantly from his former black shorts and bare feet to a white kimomo top with a purple rope belt tied around the waist and black ninja pants with white bandages wrapped around his anles and black ninja sandals. He also carried no weapons with him, something that a normal shinobi would not ever make the mistake of doing, especially on an S ranked mission, but he was no ordinary shinobi, not by any means.

"It depends on the intel Naruto manages to collect about the situation in this country and our targets. By the way, how long do you plan to make us wait Naruto...?" Asked Guren with a '_cross me and you will die' _look in her eyes. She wore red lipstick, had fair skin, dark eyes and light blue hair which she kept in a spiky ponytail with long strands of hair framing her also wore a teal short kimono with a gray turtle neck and short sleeves with a jade-green rope belt around her waist, and red shorts, light purple wrist bands and navy blue sandals.

"You should try and practise some patience once in a while...Guren sama." Replied Naruto, who was balancing himself on a railing on the incomplete bridge of Wave country with his legs crossed and his eyes closed. He was dressed in almost the exact same outfit as his _monster brother_, the only difference being that his Kimomo was dark red with an image of a dark blue shark on his back. The shark had its maw wide open with razor sharp teeth projecting off of its jaws. The inside of the mouth looked like a dark abyss with two red, slitted eyes glowing from the darkness. Around the shark image,nine long, red,and furry tails circled around, almost creating a vaccum like effect around the image.

Guren, for some reason that only she knew lost her cool and attacked the unawares 8 year old blonde with more then impressive speed, creating a crystal spear in an instant and running it through the blonde's shoulder before anyone could react.

"Who the hell do you think it is that you're talking too, chuunin! I won't accept any disrespect from you or anyone here, as the only jounin here and as Orochimaru sama's next vessel, I hold authority over all of you! got it!" Said the twelve year old jounin furiously, a fierce and sadistic expression etched on her otherwise beautiful face.

"Krkkkk...Teme...what do you think you're doing, attacking a comrade like that on a mission? That doesn't seem like jounin like behaviour to me, I don't even get how being Orochimaru sama's next vessel is a good thing, I would never allow such a thing to happen to me." Replied Naruto angrily.

"How dare you...you traitor! Being Orochimaru sama's next body, I will become a part of Orochimaru sama himself and my powers and body will help him achieve his greatest desires and goals, it is an honour that only a few and special individuals can ever hope to have! How could you even say something like that. I'll kill you for your traitorous mouth you scum...!"

"Guren, I would suggest you remove that crystal spear from aniki's shoulder before something bad happens to you! You're lucky as it is that Yakumo isn't here to see this." Said Jugo with a soft but dangerous undertone.

"I don't take orders from you, I will kill you too if you get in my way! Now stand down, that's an order!" Said Guren menacingly.

"While it is true that you don't take orders from me, it should also be noted that I do not take orders from you. As the leader of Orochimaru sama's elite guard, directly responsible for Orochimaru sama's protection and security, ranking positions such as your Elite Jounin status don't mean a thing to me. Besides, how stupid do you think we are...Guren?" Asked Jugo.

"W-what are you talking about?" Asked Guren, gritting her teeth in anger and still refusing to remove her spear from the blondes shoulder, who wasn't even flinching from the pain on his shoulder.

"If you had really intended to kill or critcally injure aniki, then his scales would have reacted on their own and stopped your attack. Also, Naruto could have avoided or even countered your attack as he would have sensed the change in your chakra even before you created the crystal spear, which would mean that he actually allowed you to attack him. Now I do not know what is going on between the two of you, but clearly you don't hate each other as much as you would like us all to believe, or as much as the two of you even believe. I would suggest the two of you sort out your differences after the completion of this mission. Now, since the two of you are hell bent on acting like incompetent fools, I will now take control of this assignment, does anyone have a problem with that?" Asked Jugo.

"Um...ehehehe...um...sure, no problem, its better then having grumpy Guren as the boss!" Said Naruto with a shark like smirk on his face.

"Who're you calling grumpy you prehistoric fish, and that's Guren sama to you!" Shouted Guren with an ugly snarl on her face.

"Enough!" Shouted Jugo authoratively.

"..."

"..."

"Honestly, and they used to think I was just an uncivilized animal..."

"You were." Deadpanned Guren.

"Whatever, get rid of that spear Guren, and Naruto, what information have your shadow clones gathered so far?" Asked Jugo with an air of professionalism and authority.

"Tche!" Grunted Guren, evaporating her crystal spear from existense. Naruto's wound closed up almost as soon as the spear was removed, not even leaving a scar where the wound had been. That made Guren grit her teeth in anger and envy, the truimphant smirk the blonde was directing towards her didn't make things any better for her temper either.

"Naruto, I'm waiting." Demanded the ten year old.

"Hai!" Saluted the blonde rigidly, now adopting a serious expression.

"This country, almost a year ago was taken over by the worlds richest businessman, Gato of Gato corporations. But, it appears that the purchase of the countries resources and facilities was done by illegal means. Gato is actually very much involved in the underground market and uses thugs, mercenaries, and rogue ninja to do his illegal business." Explained the blonde, pausing shortly to give his comrades a chance to digest the information.

"I see, so the Demon of The Mist has attached himself to this lowly scum in order to gain job security and finacial resources. But, for Gato to have hired a shinobi of that calibre, what could possibly have warranted the services of such a dangerous shinobi in a poor country like this?" Asked Guren out loud.

"She's right, do you know why he's here, Naruto?" Asked Jugo.

"Hai, Zabuza has been ordered to eliminate the contractor that is responsible for the building of this bridge. With Gato seizing control of all the ports and using it for his own means, the country, whose economic benefits almosty solely flow in from these ports has suffered immensely..."

"And this bridge is the only hope for the people of Wave Country, if they manage to complete the bridge, they will be joined with the main land and will no longer require the use of the sea ports. Gato will also lose his control of these people and might possibly risk exposure. Still...this bridge builder, assuming he is just a mere civilian, why would Gato have found it neccessary to hire a shinobi to do such a simple job?" Asked Jugo with a deep frown.

"Gato actually sent his thugs to the bridge builder's house to kill his grand son and kidnap his daughter. But I had already sent two of my shadow clones to check out the house, they arrived there just in time to save them. But to answer your question, Tazuna san has left the country in secrete, I was able to find out that he is on his way to Konoha, if I were to guess, then I would say that he intends to hire Konoha shinobi either for protection, to assassinate Gato, or both. Gato must have found out somehow about this and hired Zabuza and his crew as a counter measure, a very shrewd man I must admit"

"We can't afford to have Konoha get involved in this, more importantly, we can't afford to have them finding out about you...Naruto." Said Jugo.

"Its okay, he is only a civilian after all, I'll send a crystal clone after him, I should be able to catch up to him even if he had three day head start." Said Guren.

"Don't bother, I already sent a squad of shadow clones after him. He won't reach Konoha." Said Naruto.

"Good work Naruto, now what about Yakumo and Jirobo, where are they? Also, how many men does Zabuza have, and do you know their names and abilities?" Asked Jugo

"Jirobo went hunting for food, he said that he couldn't work on an empty stomach ehehe!" Replied Naruto sheepishly, causing Jugo and Guren to both roll their eyes in exasperation.

"And what of Yakumo and Zabuza's men?" Asked Guren impatiently.

"Zabuza has a group of powerful shinobi in his ranks. He has a fellow member of the Seven Swordsman Of The Mist in his squad, the wielder of the Lightning Fang Dual Swords, Kurotsuki Raiga." Said Naruto, his words shocking Jugo and Guren slightly, their eyes widening in surprise.

"Two members of the Seven Swordsman, this will be harder then I thought it could be. No wonder Orochimaru sama gave this mission an S rank. Tell us Naruto, who else does he have in his squad?" Asked Jugo.

"Hai, well, right now their squad has seperated, probably in order to scout out the country just like we did. Raiga is travelling with the demon brothers and a young kid with very strong chakra, possibly older then me but younger then the two of you. I'm not sure, but given his physical traits, I am almost certain that he is a member of Kiri's Kaguya clan..."

"Kurotsuki Raiga, a Kaguya kid, and the demon brothers, what a formidable team. An elite close to mid range fighter, a close range specialist and a tag team of weapons, poison, and genjutsu specialists, quite a complete team they have. They're going to be hard to take down all together, so whose going to be going after them?" Asked Guren, directing the question to no one in particular.

"Let us receive all the intel first, only then will I decide how we're going to do this. Naruto, who does Zabuza have in his half of the squad and what is Yakumo's current position?" Asked Jugo, getting fed up of asking the same question over and over because of interuptions.

"Zabuza is travelling with an afeminate looking boy, I would say that he is the same age or one year younger then you, Jugo. His chakra is strong and it feels very cold, amost like its freezing, I think he is from the Yuki clan, he must have the Hyoton Kekei Genkei. There's also someone else with them, someone also with strong chakra, but my clone haven't been able to even see him, he's been hiding inside the water and shadowing the two of them. My clone could sense his location in the water but couldn't see anything, almost as if he was...almost like he is a part of the water..."

"What, b...but how would that be possible, are you sure you haven't gone senile, maybe some fish ate a few of your brain cells during one of your deep water swimming sessions." Said Guren, stifling a giggle at the incredulous and irritated expression on the blonde's face.

"I think I might know who it is...or rather, what clan he is from..." Thought Jugo out loud.

"You do..?" Asked Naruto.

"Hai, he must be a member of the Hozuki clan, the clan that the 2nd Mizukage of Kiri hailed from. They had the ability to turn their bodies into liquids on a whim and had an especially strong affinity to water. They're a very powerful and dangerous clan of warriors, their ability to avoid damage by turning into water and replenish their energy through fusing with a body of water makes them very difficult to kill or even subdue." Explained Jugo.

"You're surprisingly very smart and knowledgeable about the ninja world, Jugo." Said Guren nonchalantly.

"I have to be, I am the leader of Orochimaru sama's personal guard, this knowledge is very valuable in order to do my job properly. In any case, if this guy is hiding inside the water, then that means he is shadowing those two as extra protection. If they should get into trouble and tackle on something more then they can handle, then he will be their secrete trump card or escape card in the battle, it is a simple but brilliant tactic. In any case, where is Yakumo?" Asked Jugo.

"She's tailing Raiga's half of the...no way, that's...that's impossible!" Said Naruto out loud, his eyes wide from shock.

"What is it, Naruto!" Asked Jugo in slight panic.

"They...they discovered her, their busy attacking her now as we speek, one of my shadow clones just got dispelled. There's only one of them helping her out now! We have to hurry!" Said Naruto hastily.

"B-but that's impossible! No one should be able to locate her when she uses her cloaking genjutsu, even someone with a doujutsu wouldn't have been able to discover her when she was hiding!" Shouted Guren hysterically.

"The two of you relax, Yakumo is very strong, she'll will be able to handle herself for a while. Naruto...is there anything you forgot to mention, maybe someone that you didn't sense or notice? Anything, anything strange at all?" Asked Jugo.

"Well...there was something funny about Raiga. He seemed to be carrying something on his back, he had a big bag I think and there was something in there...but...but I couldn't get a good reading, I tried to sense what it was but it seemed like something was blocking my sensor, I don't know how to explain, but that's what I receieved from the memories of my clones. Wait a minute, there was something else...his smell, Raiga didn't smell normal, there were two different scents coming from him...oh!" Exclaimed Naruto with wide eyes.

"What is it Naruto?" Asked Jugo.

"I...I think there's another human inside the bag, raiga is carrying a human on his back, a human that has the ability to block my chakra sonar and somehow see through Yakumo chan's genjutsu cloak!" Exclaimed Naruto in realization, causing the other two to widen their eyes in surprise. Jugo was the first to recover from his stupor and subsequently relay his orders.

"Alright, Guren, make a crystal clone and have it find Jirobo to fill him in on everything and drag him back to the battle field. You, Jirobo, and Yakumo will take care of of Raiga and his team. Rember not to kill them, but don't underestimate them either. We need to get them to join our cause!" Ordered Jugo. Guren quickly formed the hand seals and created a perfect replica of herself out of crystal. The clone, not needing to be given any orders disappeared in a crystal shunshin in order to fullfill its mission.

"Alright, I take it the two of you will handle Zabuza, Ice boy, and water boy on your own?" Asked Guren rhetorically.

"That is the plan, do not worry about us, we'll be fine, you just take care of your part of the job." Said Jugo. Naruto and Jugo both removed their kimomo's from their shoulders, allowing them to hang below over their respective rope belts. The duo, as if telepathically communicating simulataneously went straight into their tranformations, Naruto turning into a dark blue humanoid shark and Jugo's skin turning dark brown with black schlera and golden irises, three jet boosters growing on his back.

"Guren sama, make sure you don't die,I want to have a one on one talk with you when this is over, I have something to tell you." Said the shark boy before jumping over the bridge and into the water.

"Tche...show off, trying to act all cool and hardcore...you be careful too..." Said Guren with a melanchony expression.

"Well...I'm off, we'll rendezvous at the bridge builders house when the mission has been completed. Good luck!" Said Jugo, blasting himself into the sky with his chakra jet boosters.

"Tche...not you too, show off!" Shouted Guren irritably.

"Guess I better go, as much as I hate to admit it, Naruto kun would kill me if something bad happened to Yakumo..." Thought Guren, using an affectionate suffix with the blonde's name now that no one was there to hear her.

**0000000000000**

"Haku, haven't you noticed something strange in the water? That shark, its been following us for quite a while now hasn't it?" Asked Zabuza in a deep and gruff voice, a tall and noticeably muscular man with pale skin, short spiky black hair, brown eyes, and small eyebrows. He is wearing bandages like a mask over the bottom half of his face and his forehead protector is worn sideways on his head with a sleeveless black shirt and matching pants, complete with a waist-guard, and Kirigakure's striped wrist and leg-warmers. Across his torso is a a large belt to which a giant cleaver is attached on his back.

"Hai, definately not a normal shark, a summon maybe?" Asked Haku with a calm, serious, and adrogynous voice, an affeminate 8 year old boy with pale skin, brown eyes and long black hair tied in a lose ponytail with two long bangs framing his face complete with a kiri forehead protector tied across his forehead. The boy wore a black Kimomo top tied with a dark blue belt across the waist , dark black calve length pants and black ninja sandals.

"I don't know for sure Haku, but..." Trailed off Zabuza with a troubled expression.

"What is the matter...Zabuza sama?" Asked Haku with a worried undertone.

"Haku, if this is who I think it is, then there is a possibility that we might not survive this battle, even if all three of us fight together. The only person I know that uses shark summons is the strongest of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen, Hoshigaki Kisame..." Said Zabuza, leaving Haku to put two and two together for himself.

"Every shinobi has a weakness, no matter who they are. All we have to do is to remove the samehada from his possession, and then from then on, it will be our advantage, we have my ice techniques and the water monster on our side to counter against his suiton. In any case, even if we don't manage to defeat him, we would only have to hold him off until the others arrive, the advantage is ours here." Said Haku, not showing any visible signs of fear.

"Hn, I guess you're right, do it now, Suigetsu!" Shouted Zabuza.

**"Water Release: Demon Fish!" **Shouted a juvenile sounding voice surprisingly from under the water, though it should have been impossible to speak clearly under such conditions. In that instant, a giant wave of water grew out of the ocean a few metres away from their position, surrounding the shark figure and pulling it out of the ocean, the water took the form of a monster fish, trapping the humanoid shark inside its body.

"Gotcha! No one has ever been able to escape this...eh...what the hell are you!" Asked the eight year old boy now identified as Suigetsu, staring at the strange creature in slight shock.

"I could ask you the same thing...nevertheless I've been waiting for you to reveal yourself, thanks for taking the bate!" Replied the shark boy with a toothy grin, showing off his razor sharp triangular teeth, staring at the watery figure at the centre of the body of water.

_'So he really is a relative of the 2nd Mizukage, a member of the great Hozuki clan. And that sword floating on the water on his left...isn't that one of the seven swords of the Seven Ninja Swordsman of Kiri...yes, it is...I see...I thought he looked familiar, I've seen someone like him in the bingo books before." _Thought Naruto, taking a careful look at the giant sword, it was just as huge as the Zabuza's Kubikiribocho but looked significantly different. The blade is long and unusually wide but has the distinction of being completely hollow in the middle, essentially consisting of nothing more than the edges of what would otherwise be a normal cleaver with a circular but pointed front edge. Its handle is purple and its guard is as wide as its blade, with three small holes on either end.

"N-nani...? You knew I was here all this time...?" Asked Suigetsu.

"Off course I did, I'm a top class shinobi, and a very good sensor type, especially under the water, there's no way I wouldn't have known you were there...you know, you look very familiar, are you perhaps related to Hozuki Mangetsu?" Asked the shark boy.

_'This isn't normal water, its very dense and makes it hard to move and impossible for a someone who doesn't specialize in under water combat, it feels just like the inside of a water prison. Judging by the concentration of chakra particularly around the body water, it is obvious that just like the water prison, the surface of this jutsu is many times harder then steel and is thus impossible to break through with sheer force alone. What an amazing jutsu, to think that he could make a super large and mobile version of the water prison technique that can even be used to do battle against large opponents, I can see how useful this jutsu could be against a boss level summon like Orochimaru sama's Manda and Three Headed Snake. But...essentially, this jutsu is comprised of an advanced level of water manipulation, and that requires great amounts of chakra, this jutsu is just food for me..." _Thought Naruto with a sinister smirk on his shark features.

"Y-you know about my brother...?" Sputtered Suigetsu with a look of shock and what looked like a barely hidden but pained expression.

"Off course he does, any shinobi who is anyone would know about him, he was one of the strongest and most talented members of our organization, you have big boots to fill...Suigetsu..." Said Zabuza gruffly, walking onto the water in a casual and yet at the same time fully alert manner with Haku walking silently along side him.

"You speak of him as if he is past tense, don't tell me he has perished, someone so strong, who could have killed him?" Asked the blonde.

"He died to protect us, to protect me...because I was too weak!" Replied Suigetsu with a somber tone, gritting his teeth in frustration, sadness, and self loathing.

"We failed to kill the Mizukage, and he sacrificed himself to give us a chance to escape that damn Mizukage! I...I'll kill him, I...I hate that place, they call us monsters and hunt us down like animals simply because we were born different! And that damn Mizukage is responsible for all of this, my family...my brother's death...sniff...I'll kill him! I'll kill him if it is the last thing I ever do!" Shouted Suigetsu in anger, his tears unseen because of the water but felt by all others present.

"I understand..."

"Shut up! You don't understand shit, how could you understand! Have you lost your only brother huh! Do you know what it is like to be called a monster and hunted down like animal..! Huh!" Shouted Suigetsu in anger.

"Suigetsu! Shut up you fool! What have I told you about emotions, a true shinobi never shows his emotions, especially to enemy shinobi, emotions are a weakness and should be discarded! Your brother has earned my respect and admiration, and he passed on his will to you, don't taint his name with your foolishness!" Said Zabuza in reprimand, cutting off Suigetsu mid sentence.

"H-hai...Zabuza sensei! Gomen..." Said Suigetsu in a subdued voice.

"You're wrong you know...I know what it feels like to be called a monster, I know how it feels to be hated by everyone and hunted down like an animal. And I know what it is like to have a loved one die for my sake. I know exactly how you feel. You see...I am the jinchuuriki of Kyubi no Kitsune..." Said the blonde...Zabuza, Suigetsu, and Haku's eyes all widened in shock and surprise.

"Y...you mean like the Mizukage...but if that is the case, then why do you look like a shark?" Asked Haku neutrally.

_"I'm glad that it turned out to be someone like me, fighting Hoshigaki Kisame would have been troublesome, he is someone that can fight on par with the Mizukage after all." _Thought Haku.

"It was said that the Yondaime Hokage killed the Kyubi, while people had their doubts, nobody was really brave enough to question that lie, the Yondaime Hokage was the Boogie man of the ninja world and everyone, even Kage's feared his power, the only man ever to have a flee on site order placed on his bingo book entry by all the five great nations. Jinchuuriki are hated just as much as bloodline limit clans are hated in Kiri if not even more so, this boy may very well understand your pain better then anyone else...Haku, Suigetsu..." Said Zabuza.

"Well, yes, my father, the Yondaime Hokage sacrificed his life to seal away the Kyubi inside of me, and as for my shark appearance, well, that is a story for another day." Said the blonde, for the figurative millionth time shocking his adversaries, although Zabuza was very quick to get a hold of his emotions.

"You talk too much, for someone who was so easily captured, but that matters not, if you really are the jinchuuriki of the Kyubi, and the son of the Yondaime Hokage, then you could be of great use to me. The Mizukage is the jinchuuriki of the Sanbi, having a jinchuuriki as a weapon will almost guarantee the success of our next coupe, what say you? Join us and become my student and tool, or die right here and right now!" Said Zabuza ominously, pointing his Kubikiribocho in front of him at Naruto.

"Well, I have a better idea, why don't you join me, you see, I escaped Konoha two years ago and joined a new village, Otogakure no Sato, our leader, Orochimaru sama has sent me on this mission to recruite you and your subordinates into our ranks. We're interested in any talented shinobi that doesn't have a home, Orochimaru sama promises to give you a home, power, training, and security , you only have to swear your complete loyalty to Otogakure. Think about this carefully, are you planning to spend the rest of your lives running away from hunter nin squads, how long do you think you can keep that up? Just think, no one will ever hate you or hunt you down for simply being different, you can finally belong." Said the blonde, hoping that the Demon Of the Mist would accept his offer without trouble.

"Orochimaru of the Legendar Three Ninja huh...I see now, that shark like appearance, you're the product of an experiment aren't you? This power that you promise us, if this is what it is, then no thanks, I'm not becoming some snake psycho's play toy!" Said Zabuza.

"Sigh...I guess I should have known that you would react like this. Just so you know, I volunteered for this experiment, I wasn't forced, but tell you what, how about a deal, if the three of you can defeat me, then I will become your willing and loyal tool, but if the three of you lose, then you will join Oto and swear your loyalty and service to us, how about it?" Asked Naruto.

"Fine, we have deal!" Said Zabuza.

"What do you mean a deal, he's already lost, I've got him trapped in my...my chakra...what happened to my chakra...!" Asked Suigetsu out loud.

"I'm eating it, I've been slowly devouring your chakra since you captured me in this prison of yours, I should be free right about...NOW!" Shouted the blonde.

**SPLASH!**

Suigetsu's body of water lost its shape and completely dissolved, the waves of water crashing into the surface of the lake. Zabuza and Haku quickly jumped away, flipping backwards in order not to get taken under the water and in an effort to stay aware of their surroundings.

"You're not getting away!" Shouted Naruto, shooting out of the water at incredible speeds towards Zabuza with his jaw wide open in a biting motion.

Zabuza was almost cought off guard, his speed and experience the only reason he was able to intercept the attack with his cleaver.

"Don't underestimate me br...grrrrraaah!" Grunted Zabuza, his eyes wide in shock as he and his cleaver were pushed back so rapidly that they were even levitated for a relatively short while, with the blonde's razor sharp teeth firmly locked around the sword.

To Zabuza, and everyone elses except Naruto's equal shock, they were able to reach the shore still in mid air before landing harshly on the sandy ground. Zabuza channelled as much chakra as he could into his legs and feet in order to slow down and halt his movements, digging a relatively long trench into the ground before eventually stopping dead on his tracks.

_**"**_**Demonic Ice Crystal Mirror!"** Whispered Haku from behind Naruto, flying out of an ice mirror that had manifested behind the blonde at super fast speeds with an ice senbon prepaired in order to put the blond in a false death state. But Naruto, having sensed the chakra surge before the mirror was formed was too fast to react. Lashing out with his tail, Naruto was able to intercept Haku, smashing him right through his own ice mirror with inhuman power.

"Aaargh!" Cried out Haku, his body crashing and bouncing on the ground helplessly, he was in so much pain that he couldn't even manage the strength to prepair himself for the fall.

'_Impossible! How was he able to react to Haku's teleportation speed at all, much less with his attention firmly fixed on me, just what is he?' _Thought Zabuza.

Naruto, with quick reflexes and strength quickly ripped the head cleaver out of Zabuza's hands while his guard was temporalily down, twirled around, and with inhuman jaw strength sent it hurling towards Haku's direction, who had been molding hand seals for a jutsu, having finally recovered his breathe.

**"Ice Release: Protective Ice Dome!" **Said Haku calmly. Haku was forced to cancel the offensive jutsu and settle for a defensive one, creating a big dome of ice around himself for protection. The sword bounced off of the ice dome and flew upwards only to be caught by a giant hand made out of water.

_'That's...Suigetsu, but I drained nearly all of his...I see...he is able to replenish his physical energy by merging himself with the water, I'll have to find a way to take care of..." _Naruto was cut off mid thought by a presense behind him on his blind spot.

"Giving the enemy your back like that, what a rookie mistake!" Said Zabuza ominously with a weird shaped kunai poised to penetrate the blonde's shoulder ligaments to put him out of commision, only to be stopped dead on his tracks by a dark blue tail wrapped around his torso, forcing his arms to the sides of his body.

"I'm sorry, but what were you saying?" Asked Naruto sarcastically.

**"Water Style: Water Gun Barrage Technique!" **Shouted Suigetsu, launching high pressured, hypersonic water droplets from the index finger tip of his left hand aimed towards the Naruto's torso.

Naruto, wipped his tail out violently, throwing Zabuza away with incredible force. The Demon of the mist crashed into a large tree violently, only to turn into water. Naruto absorbed the chakra from the water pellets in an instant, what remained became harmless water particles that only served to wet him a bit.

_'He substituted himself with a water clone to escape harm and retreated into the surrounding forest. Damn it, I didn't want to give them time to think up a strategy. _Thought Naruto, also noting that Haku was missing from his previous position, but not just that, Naruto also noticed a thick fog creeping over the battle area.

_'So, they're planning to use their stealth techniques to take me out, not only that, but all three of them are saturating the atmosphere with their chakra by sharing control of the the Hidden Mist no jutsu, this is so that they can counter my chakra sensing abilities and to blind side me. Hn, a good tactic, but unfortunately for them, I've also trained with this jutsu for years now, this was one of the first techniques that Kaa chan left for me. When using the silent killing technique, a practitioner relies mostly on sound alone to do battle, do they really think that they can defeat a shinobi from the Hidden Sound Village using this jutsu.' _Thought Naruto, his body reverting back to its usual form, his tail and the shark fin on his back sunk back into his spine and his body turned the normal colour again. Blonde hair became visible again and his gills merged together and formed back into normal skin again.

**"Sword Ninja Art: Cutting Waterfall!" **Said Suigetsu, projecting his voice all around so as not to reveal his position, launching a rushing surge of water from his cleaver, the torrent of water was so huge that Naruto thought it could even cover a couple of town blocks, visible even through the mist.

"Kuso! How the hell does he still have so much...wait a second...this jutsu has no chakra...what kind of jutsu is this!" Thought Naruto out loud in shock.

"That is the power of my sword, the **Blue Wave Gun**! My sword creates water and through a natural process that even I don't fully undersdand, this word condenses the water into different pressurized and concentrated forms of my choosing, let's see you survive this one!" Came the voice of Suigetsu, who had moved from the location from which he fired the attack

"Kuso!" Shouted Naruto in frustration, realising that there was no way to dodge such a wide area attack...

**End Chapter**

**Alright that's the end of the chapter.**

**_"Demon Of the Mist vs Shark Monster Of Oto Part 2"_ will be the next chapter**

After that there will be a time skip and Naruto will meet Gaara for the first time (secrete sound/sand alliance etc etc), anyway we will be getting closer to the chuunin exams, that's all I'll reveal for now. Expect a lot of surprises though.

Anyway I am currently very busy, I just barely managed to squeeze in the time to type this chapter, the next one will come out after two weeks because I will really be preoccupied with real life issues for that long.

I hope yaw enjoyed it and I promise to fix up the grammatical mistakes of this and the previous chapter when I get a chance, and thanks for the reviews, I've read all of them but haven't had the chance to reply, I will though when I get the chance.

Those of you that watch/read bleach might have guessed it already, Suigetsu's sword is a bigger variation of Harribel's Tiburon and the sword's abilities are the same, I think it is quite fitting for him don't you guys think. Anyway Naruto will show us some new techniques in the next chapter, stay tuned.

Peace.


	6. Chapter 6

**DISCLAIMER: **I do not own Naruto or any other series or movie I might use for inspiration.

**CHAPTER 6**

_**Demon of The Mist vs Monster Shark Of Oto Part 2**_

'_Kuso, a jutsu that has no chakra, I never expected something like this from them, or anyone for that matter...' _Thought Naruto with a bemused smile.

_'But, there can never really be any jutsu without expanding energy in any form or at any stage of a jutsu. But...the only method that I know of to produce an end result that has no chakra is through the use of an advanced sealing matrix. Probably...he would have had to channel a portion of his chakra into the sword, and then a sealing matrix engraved into the weapon would absorb the chakra and use it to create the water. From then on, another advanced seal would be used to pressurize and concentrate the water into any shape or form the user can think of. But that's ridiculous, this is Uzumaki clan level sealing arts, could it be that...no, it doesn't matter, if this really is the work of an Uzumaki, then I will simply defeat it with an even better clan jutsu...' _Thought the blonde haired jinchuuriki.

**"Secret Sealing Art: Splitting Void Shield" **Whispered the blonde harshly. Having rapidly molded the hand seals, Naruto quickly crouched down and slammed his right hand onto the ground, a large sealing matrix spreading on the ground from the point of impact. A circular, transparent barrier erected itself from the circumference of the circular shaped seal, protecting the blond from all sides, all of this happening in the space of a second.

The giant, pressurised wave crashed against the shield violently, some or rather most of the water flowing over and around the shield because of the shear shize of the technique, but to no avail, the shield not even looking the slightest bit affected by the jutsu.

'_With the Hidden Mist Jutsu active, I can sense the position of the enemy at all times and from then on attack and react to his movements using sound alone, but...I can't hear or even sense his presence all of a sudden, almost like he disappeared off of the surface of the earth! Just what the hell is going on here, what are we truly up against?' _Thought Zabuza from his own hiding spot, Suigetsu and Haku going through the same thoughts as he was.

'_What a jutsu, his attack must have reached even the Tazuna san's bridge all the way from here, luckily his attack was directed away from the city itself, otherwise there would have been a lot of casualties. In any case, I should end this quickly, but to do that I have to bait them into a close range confrontation...sigh...I'll have to release the barrier to do that though...and then ressurect a different kind of barrier.' _Thought Naruto, cancelling his jutsu with a ram hand sign and a small flare of chakra, which was also intended to give away his location to the enemy. Following that, the blond quickly blazed through a few more hand seals before clasping his hands together in concentration.

**"Secret Sealing Art: Displacement Sound Barrier!" **Whispered the blonde, from his hand a bubble shaped, transparent barrier formed slowly before spreading out rapidly, the barrier grew so big and so fast that it covered the whole battle area, up to the beginning point of the surrounding forest.

_'All set, my sensor is nullified by the chakra concentrated mist and while my hearing is better then most, it still wouldn't be enough for me to keep up with three silent killing specialists, especially with Zabuza, the best user of the art being one of the three. But with this sound detection barrier, I can even see in the mist!' _Thought the blonde, adopting a battle ready stance. While the blonde had been finalising his battle strategy, so were his opponents, having come up with an effective attack plan, Zabuza started the movement with his trademark method of intimidation.

"Lungs, liver, spine, clavicle vein, Carotid artery, brain, kidneys, and the heart…which one should I pick...!" Zabuza's voice was laced with a heavy intent to kill, his voice projecting all around the battlefield, making his actual position impossible to decipher.

_'Hn, that's fine by me, play your little games for now, but it will be over as soon as you enter my sound barrier...' _Naruto had to discard his thoughts with haste as a sinister presence manifested itself behind him in the form of the Demon Of The Mist, the swordsman had taken on a slightly crouched position with the Kubikiribocho placed horizontally across his shoulders behind his neck and his right hand firmly locked around the handle of the blade.

"Its ends now, **Silent Homicide Technique!**" Whispered Zabuza gruffly, executing a back handed horizontal slash with great speed and force, but the blonde was just as quick to react, having detected the demon's presence and movements with his sound barrier, scales intantly covered his torso and arms as the blonde swung his left arm around to block the head cleaver.

**Boom!**

A massive shock wave washed over the battle ground with a great booming sound, the collision was so fierce so much that the ground between the two combatants started to break apart from the shear power that the two combats on display were able to produce.

'Check ..." Said a Zabuza with a sinister smirk that couldn't be seen through the heavy mist and his mask like bandages, although Naruto didn't need to see it to know that it was there.

"What are you..." Trailed off the blonde with widened eyes.

**"Double Decapitating Homicide Technique!" **Shouted Suigetsu from behind the blonde, executing the same technique as his sensei in the exact same manner, except instead of striking the blonde's torso, he rather went for a slash across his legs with his Blue Wave Gun.

_'A tag team attack, he's aiming for my legs...!' _Thought the blonde, his eyes widening in surprise.

**Boom!**

An even bigger shock wave washed over the battle ground, the power of the attack this time creating a massive creater beneath the three combatants, to Suigetsu and Zabuza's equal surprise. That wasn't supposed happen was it? Suigetsu was supposed to slice through the human shark's limbs and the battle was supposed to end, but Zabuza knew immediately that the blonde Namikaze had stopped Suigetsu's attack, because there wouldn't have been any impact at all had it been successful, the cleaver would have simply sliced through the blonde like a knife through butter.

_'Kuso! That was a close call, I never expected him to go for my legs nor did I expect him to pack so much physical force. His attack may have been slower then Zabuza's, but it was much more powerful, how did he do that?' _Thought Naruto.

The dust, debris, and even the mist disappeared slowly but surely, allowing all three combatants to finally open their eyes and see what had transpired with their own eyes. Naruto was shocked to find the answers to his questions, staring with unconcealed surprise and curiosity at Suigetsu's enlarged arms, it looked at least three times bigger then its normal size.

_'I understand now, Using the Hydrification Technique of the Hozuki clan, he can gather moisture from the rest of his body and compress it in his arm, this not only enlarges his limb, but exponentially increases his strength too, this is type of super strength technique.' _Thought Naruto.

"You like it? This is my **Water Release Great Water Arm Technique**! Impressive huh...hehehe...demo...could you please explain to us how you stopped my attack with your bare leg...actually...hehehe...it would also be kind of you if you told us how you were able to intercept our double silent homicide jutsu, come on, play fair will ya hehehe...by the way you look much better in human blonde then blue shark?" Asked Suigetsu sarcastically, not really expecting a response from the blonde haired enigma.

"Hn, since you asked so nicely, I'll let you know, I set up a sound barrier while the two of you were busy playing hide and seek in the mist. The barrier records every single sound within its range, the sound frequencies are then transfered back to my brain directly and converted into optical information, giving me a type of infrared vision in the dark and in this case, the mist. You get it now, I saw your attacks coming from a mile away." Said Naruto with a sadistic smirk that looked like an exact replica to the one Suigetsu was directing at him.

"I understand now, in fact, I suspected this from the start, your shark appearance, your association with Orochimaru, your ability to absorb chakra in large quantities, and now, the scales on your body...the experiment that was done to you was a a merger or fusion with the great Samehada of Kiri wasn't it, and that is how you were able to stop both of our attacks, hidden beneath those pants on your legs, are smaller scales that you covered your skin with just before impact. I have one question to ask you, if you are indeed merged with Samehada, then what became of Hoshigaki Kisame, is he dead?" Asked Zabuza with narrowed eyes, for some reason bothered by the possibility of the shark man's death, maybe because he was a former comrade, or just maybe he didn't like the possiblity of someone out there being strong enough to take out the strongest member of the great organisation he belonged to.

"Last time I checked he was alive and still in possession of his sword, but then again Orochimaru sama hasn't met up with him for years now, they just worked together on one mission and Samehada just happened to lose a small shard of his scales during the mission...the rest I'm sure you can figure out on your own." Said the Blonde.

"Heh...that Snake psycho and Kisame senpei have worked together before! Heh, what a small world." Said Suigetsu nonchalantly.

"I can't bring myself to believe that Kisame has allied himself with the likes of him, what could he possibly gain from working with that man, did he promise him power too?" Asked Zabuza authoratively, even though he held absolutely no real authority in the situation.

"Its not what you think it is, trust me..." Said the blonde cryptically.

"I see, if you won't talk freely then...we'll force it out of you! This is check mate, now Haku!" Shouted Zabuza. Almost instantly, an ice mirror formed out of the atmosphere in front of the blonde, Haku shot out of the mirror with great speed with two senbon, one each of his hands poised to stab the blonde right in the eyes.

'_Kuso, I almost forgot about him, so this is what they were planning, a three stage attack plan where the first two attacks were meant to occupy my attention and my limbs, and the third one aimed for my only weak point, after all, I can't exactly grow scales on my eyes...demo, I still have that jutsu...'_

**"Piston Fist: Style One!" **Naruto was unable to finish his thoughts and Haku was unable to execute his attack as he was blasted into the ground by the most powerful hit he had ever received in his entire existense as a shinobi, his body digging a long trench into the ground.

"Are you alright otouto?" Asked Jugo with a calm aura that people who had met him more then two years ago would never believe.

"Yeah I'm fine, nice save aniki, even though, I could have handled it myself..." Replied Naruto.

"I'm sure you could have, but the suspense you created was too much, I had no choice but to join the battle otherwise I might have gone crazy." Said Jugo.

"Hehe, sorry about that, but you know that attack won't be enough to take your opponent out, he has some kind of armour protecting his body, I can feel the chakra all around his body." Said Naruto.

"Hey...who the hell is this, I thought you were going to fight us alone?" Asked Suigetsu petulantly.

Jugo, ignoring Suigetsu quickly boostered himself into the air with his jet boosters. By the time he reached a preferable height he'd already entered full curse mode and the six jet boosters on his back were already turned upwards.

"I'll end this with this one attack, **Curse Mode: Destroying Hammer Heal Drop!**" Shouted Jugo. Jugo fired the jet boosters on his back that were pointed upwards, having the effect of propelling Jugo downwards at ridiculous speeds, what made the attack even more dangerous was the hammer like appendage that grew on the back of his lower leg and around his heel.

Haku, having been dissoriented by the impact from the earlier surprise attack only had time to re-ennforce his ice armour with more chakra, unable to dodge the super fast and unexpected assualt.

**Bang!**

The sound of impact was ear shattering, so loud that it could be heard on the other side of the island. The ground itself broke up into quake like segments, caving in from the pressure and a giant creater formed beneath the ice user and the sound 5 leader.

"Aaargh...! Gwaaaah!" Screamed out Haku in pain, the ice shield covering his body cracking up rapidly before completely shattering.

"I...impossible! He broke through Haku's Ice Armour, what monstrous strength!" Thought Zabuza.

"Aren't you supposed to pay attention to your own battle? **Scale Manipulation: Poccupine Effect!" **Said Naruto, projecting out sharp and pointed scales from all over his body in an attempt to scewer the swordsman duo.

"Kuso! Get away from him Suigetsu!" Shouted Zabuza, jumping away from the blonde with great haste, skidding to a halt a few metres away.

"Right ahead of ya...!" Shouted Suigetsu, showing great mobilty and skill in dodging the blonde's chakra draining appendages. The blonde, realising that his enemy had gotten away receded back to his original human form, his scales sinking back into his skin. Naruto immediately activated a seal on his right forearm, with a small puff of smoke four tri pronged kunai manifested between the blonde's five fingers.

"First I'll take care of you, Suigetsu!" Said Naruto, throwing the four kunai with great speed in Suigetsu's direction. To Zabuza, and more so Suigetsu's bemusement, all four kunai completely missed their target, digging into the ground around the Hozuki prodigy.

"Those kunai...those seal tags around the handle...this is...get away from the kunai Suigetsu!" Shouted Zabuza.

"Too late! **Secret Sealing Art: Splitting Void Prison!**" Shouted Naruto, clasping his hands together after blazing through a few hand seals.

Suigetsu tried to flee but was too late to react as proven when he splattered against an invisible barrier, his body automatically turning into liquid upon impact, an eight by eight metre, transparent barrier formed around Suigetsu from the four kunai that were lodged into the ground.

"What the hell is this?" Asked Suigetsu in shock, hating the uncomfortable feeling of hydrifying unexpectedly.

"Its too late for you, this is an advanced prison barrier of my own creation, this is a space time barrier that is created through manipulation of the sound vibrations in the atmosphere. The vibration frequencies are so powerful that the jutsu distorts and splits the space and time itself, creating a seperate plain within this world, think of it as a storage scroll but instead used to store captives and still be able to watch over them." Explained Naruto, knowing that Suigetsu could read his lips even if he couldn't hear him from inside the barrier.

_'This barrier originates from those four weird kunai he threw at me, given how deep they are stuck to the ground, I have to assume that the barrier has completely enclosed me, even from under the ground, but I have to check to make sure!' _Thought Suigetsu, channelling a lot of chakra into his cleaver.

**"Sword Ninpo: Boiling Current!" **Shouted Suigetsu from within the barrier, although the sound of his voice never reached the outside. A large amount of boiling water, pressured and concentrated into a razor sharp, shark toothed shape, formed around the tip of his sword. Suigetsu followed up by jumping high up and swinging the sword downwards violently, releasing the boiling water with amazing speed towards the ground.

Th attack completely destroyed the surface of the battle field, but true to Suigetsu's suspicions, couldn't go through the barrier and in fact the attack was deflected by the barrier violently, missing Suigetsu by an inch before deflecting off of the top of the barrier and so on all around the barrier. Suigetsu found himself straining to dodge his own attack but eventually was able to suck it back into his sword with a precisely aimed swipe.

"He's not very smart that one is he?" Asked Jugo, walking towards the blonde with slow steps, with the body of his opponent placed on his shoulder.

"No he's smart alright, but very reckless though. In any case, is Haku still alive?" Asked Naruto.

"Yeah he's alive alright, just unconscious, that ice armour of his is something else, he's really strong." Said Jugo.

"I see, well that settles it then, just one more to go." Said Naruto, turning around to face the demon of the mist who had been quietly analysing the situation thoughtfully.

"Hn...if you think this is over then you've got another thing coming brat. Every jutsu has a weakness that can be exploited, like for instance, it may be impossible to dispel your barrier from the but from the outside..." Trailed off Zabuza, throwing a shuriken at one of the tri pronged kunai in the ground.

"All I have to do is knock off one of those weird kunai and the whole barrier will collapse!" Said Zabuza with a confident smirk on his face.

_'Off course! Why didn't I think of that! Good move, Zabuza-sensei!' _Thought Suigetsu.

"Heh...now the numbers will be even again...,n-nani!" Exclaimed Zabuza in shock, his cocky smirk transforming into an angry snarl, watching his shuriken fly away uselessly, having bounced off of a an invisible barrier that was protecting the kunai as well.

"Well I'd like to brag and ask if you really thought that I wouldn't have protected the weak point of my barrier, but to be honest I really have to thank the sound 5 for that idea. Your plan might have worked if I hadn't improved my barrier after seeing what they can do with their **Four Violet Flames Battle Encampment Barrier!**" Explained Naruto.

"Hn..." Grunted Zabuza uncaringly, but still maintaining a battle ready posture with his cleaver placed on his left shoulder.

"You should forfeit, its two against one, you're no match for the two of us together, you're all alone now." Said the blonde.

"Even if you win the battle, we won't be joining you, the deal was that we had to defeat you alone, but you had help." Said Zabuza defiantly.

"Wrong, I never said that I would be fighting alone, I simply said that you had to beat me for me to become your tool. But you failed to do that, and now you have to come back to Oto with us." Retorted Naruto.

"Well I'm not going to forfeit to a mere brat like you, you're going to have to beat me if you..." Trailed of Zabuza in shock, a fish eyed expression on his face, finding the blonde standing in right in front of him all of a sudden with his the palm of his hand firmly placed on his belly with a sealing array spreading across the demon's torso from the point of impact.

"You...this can't be! This is...!" Thought Zabuza out loud in shock.

"Yes, this is the **Hirashin no Jutsu, **and now I'll end it with my next jutsu,** Uzumaki Clan Secret Sealing Style: Adementine Supression Chains!**" Whispered the blonde.

"I won't lose to...gwaaah!" Screamed out Zabuza as multiple chains exploded out of the seal, rapidly wrapping themselves around their target from neck to toe, Zabuza, who had been about to decapitate the blond with his cleaver had no chance, the cleaver dropping onto the floor with his arms bound together against his body. The sudden constriction caused the demon of the mist to lose his balance and fall on his back limply.

"Don't bother to struggle against it, those are chakra supression chains and they are re- enforced with powerful seals, they will never break." Said the blonde calmly.

"Damn you...I thought I recognised those kunai from somewhere, so you're the second coming of the Yellow Flash after all, we never stood a chance did we? Demo...I thought you had to transport yourself to a location close to the kunai, how did you transport to me?" Asked Zabuza in a gruff but subdued manner, at least for him.

"He placed a seal on your sword earlier when you clashed inside your hidden mist technique, you didn't see him do it because you had your eyes closed at the time in order to focus on your silent homicide technique. If you aren't careful about how you use your jutsu, it will be used against you. You said so yourself earlier, that every jutsu has a weakness, the same applies to you, this was the weakness of your jutsu." Explained Jugo, walking up next to his brother figure.

"Kuso! Zabuza-sensei lost too! Great, now we get to become experiments!" Said Suigetsu to himself in exasperation.

"Someone's coming, I sense a lot of lightning natured chakra, it must be..." Naruto was cut off mid sentence by the arrival of Raiga, a tall, but not as tall as Zabuza man with dark greenish hair, a dark complexion and thick brown lips, wearing only a standard Kiri jounin vest on his upper body and black A.N.B.U pants and black ninja sandals. Though what everyone found perculiar was the bone sword sticking out of his shoulder and the numerous wounds and blood all over his body.

"Zabuza, we need your help you bastard! We just got attacked by...by..." Raiga's mouth was left hanging agape in shock and fear, his eyes able to see but his mind almost refusing to believe the information being sent to his brain.

"What the hell is going on man! Zabuza, who are these..."

**"Hahaha! I found you! Come on now, stop playing hard to get, I still wana play with you a little bit more ahahahahaha!" **Came a voice that sounded like the most evil voice Zabuza had ever heard in his life from behind Raiga, but suspiciously had a familiar undertone. Raiga, in a feat of great speed worthy of his elite status was able to dodge a bone sword from impaling him through his back just in the nick of time, blocking the follow up with his now lightning covered dual swords.

"Kuso! Damn you Kimimaro what the fuck is wrong with you! I'm gonna burry you alive for this when this is over! Just you wait and see, me and the boys will celebrate your life at your funeral you traitor!" Shouted Raiga angrily, confused, shocked, and angered by the white haired Kaguya's ruthless assualt.

**"Hahahaha! Oh I don't think you'll live long enough to do that, unless you plan to celebrate your own funeral ahahahaha!"** Shouted the boy with mad elation, launching super fast slashes and thrusts that kept the experienced swordsman on the back foot.

"Ido! When I find you I'm gonna make you pay for disobeying my orders you childish fool! What kind of mother figure acts like such a child!" Shouted a voice that Jugo and Naruto both recognised as Yakumo's from the surrounding forest.

"She must have used the **mind transfer technique** on the Kaguya kid to tranfer Ido's consciousness into him. What a usefuly technique." Said Jugo.

"Yeah, she can bypass the disadvantage of the jutsu because there's always someone inhibitting her own body, whether its her or Ido, but then again, Ido's never really followed orders in great detail." Said Naruto, clasping one of his hands against his forehead in exasperation...

**End Chapter!**

**Alright that's it for now guys, the title of the next chapter will be "The Hero of Wave", will also quickly wrap up the battle.**

**Grammer mistakes will be fixed when I get a chance.**

**If you are shocked by the early update depite proclaiming that I would be too busy in the last chapter for the next two weeks, just know that I am also on the same boat as you, I was just going to type the disclaimer and title like I always do in preparation for when I'm ready to start a new chapter but I ended up with this, anyway I hope it was good enough.**

**Hope yaw enjoyed it and thanks for all the reviews.**

**Peace!**


	7. Chapter 7

**DISCLAIMER: **I do not own Naruto or any other series or movie that I might use for inspiration.

**CHAPTER 7**

_**Jirobo's Will**_

_**1 Year Ago...**_

"What is this?" Asked Jirobo with a suspicious glare, staring at the giant scroll that his blonde haired, whisker faced companion had just rolled over to him from across the table.

_'He's acting weird, he could have handled this mission on his own easily but he specifically demanded that I alone accompany him. Then he treated me to an all you can eat barbeque dinner and offered to pay for all of my expenses for the mission. And now...now this, what's going on here?' _Thought Jirobo, unnerved by the strange behaviour of his friend for a just over a year now.

"This is a scroll containing all the secret body expansion techniques of the Akimichi clan, including their taijutsu style and their secret soldier pill recipes. I want you to have it." Said the blonde bluntly.

"W-what, b-but how did you get this? And why give something like this to me when you could have used it yourself? What's going on here Naruto?" Asked Jirobo, unable to comprehend the thoughts and actions of his comrade, speaking in harsh whispers so as not to alert or startle any of the other customers of the Hidden Black Dragon Restaurant.

"Because...I think my mother would have wanted you to have it." Said Naruto with a straight face.

"W-what?" Sputtered Jirobo comically.

"Earlier, you asked me how I came into possession of this scroll, the answer to that is that it was a gift from my mother." Explained Naruto.

"I...I don't get it Naruto, you told us that your mother was an Uzumaki and I know that your father is the Fourth Hokage. I also know that she left you all your father's jutsu and your clan's jutsu, but you never told us about this...wait a minute, is this connected to Yakumo's ability to use mind walking techniques?" Asked Jirobo in slight frustration, it seemed the more that was explained the more confused he became and the more questions he had, he justy didn't get any of this.

"Yes, I was the one that gave Yakumo-chan access to the Yamanaka clan's secret techniques, and I'm now giving you access to the Akimichi clan's secret jutsu. I've studied the scroll carefully and have come to the conclusion that out of everyone in Oto, you would be the best suited to learn and utilise these techniques, off course, I would not have given them to you if you hadn't earned my trust and respect." Replied Naruto, still not baring any emotions on his features.

"I see, not that I'm not thankful or anything, but you still have yet to explain how your mother got her hands on these secrets, and why you aren't using them for yourself, I mean with so much power, why just give it away?" Asked Jirobo with a confused expression.

"Because I don't think that my mother neccessary wanted me to learn these techniques. Think about it, imagine I hadn't left Konoha and became a Konoha shinobi, what do you think would have happened to me when I started using all these clan techniques?" Asked Naruto rhetorically, causing Jirobo's eyes to widen slightly in realization.

"You get it right, the clans would have been furious and the Hokage would have been suspicious of me. I would be uprehanded by A.N.B.U and taken in for interogation with Morino Ibiki and Yamanaka Inoichi. If they walked through my mind, they would have found out everything that my mother did, my mother and my clan's reputation would have been destroyed and I would be either locked up forever, brainwashed, or...executed." Said the blonde.

"So...you're saying that your mother was trying to get you killed?" Asked Jirobo, causing Naruto to sweat drop at the big guy's stupidity.

"Um...no Jirobo, that's not what I'm saying at all." Replied Naruto.

"I don't get it then, what was she trying to do?" Asked Jirobo in sincere confusion, making the blond sigh in exasperation.

"What I'm saying is that I don't think she wanted me to stay in konoha...and no she didn't just want me to be a rogue shinobi!" Said Naruto hastily, cutting off Jirobo before he could say something stupid.

"One of the things she left behind for me was a scroll containing all the information and history of the Uzumaki clan and Ushiogakure no saito. Did you know, that the people of my clan believed that as long as even one Uzumaki lived, so did the clan and so did Ushigakure no saito itself. That no matter where the last heir may go, and no matter where he lived, they would always be with him in spirit and would always support his dreams and ambitions, even from the after life. You see, this is the oath that an academy student made to the village when they became genin, this was Ushio's _will of unity_. Namely, I, as the last known heir of the Uzumaki clan, have inherited my peoples will, I am Ushiogakure itself and the place I am loved and supported, the place where I have precious people that I wish to protect is Ushiogakure." Explained the blonde cryptically, taking a short breathe, pausing dramatically in order to give his companion a chance to digest the information.

"To answer your question, I think that my mother wanted me to rebuild Ushiogakure no sato. I don't believe she actually thought that I would learn all these techniques, what I think she wanted was for me to use them to start a new hidden village, one that would rival and even surpass Konoha, after all, the majority of Konoha's strength comes from their shinobi clans and their teamwork." Said Naruto.

"So, you're saying that because you have accepted Oto as your home, that Oto has in a sense become the new Ushiogakure. Also, because the old Whirlpool was destroyed, that your mother stole the main source of Konoha's strength in order to make the new Uzu strong enough not to suffer the same fate as the old one. So this is why you're giving me this scroll, you want me to recreate the Akimichi clan in Oto, or should I say, to create a new clan that will rival or even surpass the Akimichi clan of Konoha." Said Jirobo thoughtfully.

"Yes, that is precisely what I want you to do, my mother had only a few minutes with me but she did so much more for me then even most mothers who have had all their lives with their children. I want to live up to her expectations of me and I want to fulfill the dreams she had for me and our people, and to do that, I need you, Jirobo. So what do you say, will you help me, will you accept this gift from me, this power?" Asked Naruto.

"Hai, I accept, and...arigatou, maybe...maybe with this...I can make my parents proud too." Replied the fellow orphan with a sombre but grateful expression, thinking about the day he lost his parents to a Master Iwagakure Hunting Squad. His parents had tried their best to give him the love, care, food, shelter and shinobi training that he had wanted and needed as a child, but being A rank rogue shinobi didn't make things easy neither for them or Jirobo and eventually their life style caught up to them, he would have died too if it wasn't for Orochimaru sama saving his life, Orochimaru sama had even allowed him the pleasure of killing the man that had delivered the killing blow on his mother before he asked him to join his forces. Jirobo had accepted Orochimaru's offer of power and security without hesitation, vowing to become even stronger then his dad so that he would never lose a loved one again. It looked like that dream was becoming more and more possible by the day, he'd already mastered everything his dad had taught him as a child and he was set to receive a power boost from Orochimaru sama in the form of a cursed seal in the next year or two. Add what his friend Naruto was offering and his dream would be fullpfilled sooner then he could ever have imagined.

"I have no doubt that you will, Jirobo." Replied Naruto with a friendly smile.

"Yeah..." Said Jirobo with a small smirk.

"Remember though, that a jutsu is only as strong as the wielder, do not neglect to maintain and develop your mind, heart, and body. Konoha have their will of fire, but we, as the new Uzu in Oto, have our _will of unity_'!" Said Naruto.

"We do?" Asked Jirobo.

"Yeh we do alright! The will of unity is also known as the _will of the ocean_. The water is connected all around the world, we, as humans give different seas and beaches different names, but no matter how many different names we give them or how different they may seem to be, they are still part of one ocean, the water is connected together, one flow all around the world. That is the symbol of the will of unity, we, in Oto have different bloodlines and different abilities, but we are one under the banner of Oto, and we are interconnected. Even our abilities are interconnected." Explained Naruto.

"Even our abilities?" Asked Jirobo with a quirked eyebrow.

"Yes, think about it, would Aniki have been able to become as strong as he is now without Yakumo chan's mind blocking barriers to stop him from going crazy. Would Tayuya have been able to telepathically control her doki without Yakumo chan's mind linking techniques and my shadow clone technique, would I have been able to wield the power of the great shark skin sword without Orochimaru sama and Kabuto sama's science and medical techniques? In about a year or two, the sound four will receive cursed seals that will boost their power, would that be possible without Aniki, Orochimaru sama, Kabuto sama, and Karin-chan? Do you understand now Jugo, the will of unity is already in motion within Oto, we all have different talents, bloodlines, and jutsu, but if we use them to help each other, we can become so much more stronger, this is why Whirlpool was so strong. My clan used their sealing talents not only for themselves but also to boost and amplify the ninjutsu and weapons of the shinobi families that were our allies as well. With this will of unity, we will extinguish the flames of Konoha's will of fire!" Said Naruto passionately, causing Jirobo's eyes to widen in surprise before settling for a confident smirk.

"Yeah! Those tree huggers won't know what hit them! Hahaha!" Said Jirobo in a manner typical of someone with Iwa origines.

"Yeah! Hehehe!" Said Naruto, the two boys laughing maniacly as if someone just shared some big joke with them.

**0000000000000000000000**

"Our target is down there, she's 2 miles south west of our location." Said Naruto, his voice and demeanor oozing an air of professionalism.

"Come to think about it, I don't even know the name of our target or her abilities, all I know is that she is a girl." Said Jirobo.

"Her name is Kamizuru Suzumebachi, the sole surviving member of the Kamizuru clan and the First Tsuchikage's grand daughter. You don't have to worry about her abilities, I only made you come along with me so that I can give you that scroll on your back. I plan to go in alone, you just wait for me right here." Replied the blonde.

"I see, but what is she doing all the way out here on her own?" Asked Jirobo.

"She's apparently gone crazy and spends all her time in this jungle searching for something known as _the bikochu beettle_. She believes that its tracking abilities will lead her to the Forbidden scroll containing all the secrets of the First Tsuchikage and plans to use that to revive her clan to its former greatness." Explained Naruto.

"But how are you going to convince someone like that to join us, not only is she crazy, but she is a descendant of the First Tsuchikage, her ambitions to regain noble status for her clan in Iwagakure don't make things any easier." Said Jirobo, doubt and disbelief laced in his voice.

"So what? I'm the Yondaime Hokage's son but look where I am now. Besides, things aren't always as black and white as they appear. What you don't know about is her frustration and supressed feelings of resent for Iwagakure no sato, the current Tsuchikage and his own grand daughter. The village, despite all her pleadings, has not so much as lifted a hand to assist her in her goals, furthermore, she feels that the reason for that is because the current Tsuchikage and his Grand Daughter want to replace her Grand Father and herself as the symbols of strength and hope for Iwa. Something else to take note of is that she is now officially a missing ninja in Iwa's Bingo books because of her refusal to return from her mission to find her grand father's secret scroll. Her two brothers, who were the last living members of her clan were killed a couple of months ago in a clash with an Iwa Hunting Nin Squad, driving her over the edge and losing her mind. Since then, she's been living in this forest and obsessing over the bikochu beetle." Explained Naruto, pausing slightly to give Jirobo a chance to digest the information.

"I understand now, this should be easy enough then, although, aren't you still concerned by her mental instability, and what about this Forbidden Scroll of hers that she wants, how are you going to help her find it without this bikuku beetle?" Asked Jirobo.

"Bikochu, its a Bikochu beetle, not Bikuku." Said Naruto.

"Oh yeah thanks, so what about this Bichaku beetle?" Asked Jirobo with a serious expression.

_'Sigh...is he really that dense or is he making fun of me?' _Thought Naruto with a sweat drop.

"Ahem...anyway... Her clan's fall was marked by their defeat to the Aburame Clan of Konoha, I am confident that the Aburame clan's Forbidden Jutsu Scroll that I have in my possession will peak her interest even more so then her grand father's scroll. In any case it is only autumn season now, the Bikochu is only available in spring time after a rainstorm, that's when their eggs hatch. She can always come back for it later." Said Naruto.

"Are you sure you can trust her with those jutsu, I mean we barely even know her?" Asked Jirobo.

"She has no reason to betray us, we're giving her the power of the Aburame clan on top of the Kamizuru's power that she already wields, and we plan to destroy Konoha, the home of the clan responsible for her own clan's demise and we will give her all the support and respect that Iwa failed to provide for her and her clan. If that wasn't enough we're still going to help her get her hands on her grand father's scroll. Trust me on this one Jirobo, she will be our loyal ally, she can be trusted." Said Naruto

"Alright, if any one can do it, then it will you." Said Jirobo, acknowledging the blond's charismatic personality.

"Alright! I'll be back in no time at all!" Shouted Naruto, jumping over the cliff and falling down into the wild jungle.

_'She's lived a very hard and painful life and all she wants is acknowledgement for herself and her family, and maybe love. She's just like me and Yakumo-chan used to be, all alone in this cruel and harsh world with no one willing to help her and no one to lean on for support. I have to help her, I wouldn't be able to live with myself if I didn't nor would I be able to face Kaa chan when we meet in the after life.'_ Thought Naruto, sympathising with the girl he'd been following and who's background he'd been researching for just over two months now.

_**Currently...**_

"Ido! When I find you I'm gonna make you pay for disobeying my orders you childish fool! What kind of mother figure acts like such a child!" Shouted a voice that Jugo and Naruto both recognised as Yakumo's from the surrounding forest.

_**'Kuso! Its only a matter of time before the mistress catches up! Oh well... Hehehe! I'll just have as much fun as I can before she arrives!' **_Thought the Ido demon from inside the body of the boy now known to be Kimmimaro.

Ido felt that she had to give it to the guy, the boy had an overwhelming level of will power to be able to resist their **shitenshin no jutsu**, that kind of mental strength was unheard of even among elite shinobi. It was generally accepted that any battle would be over once a mind transfer technique took effect, not in this case it seemed, Ido had been forced to use a mind paralyse genjutsu on the boy just to so that she could maintain full control of his body, otherwise the boy would have given her trouble or possibly even broken the mind transfer jutsu.

"Kuso! We're never going to catch up to them in time at this rate! Jirobo, do something about it!" Shouted Guren over her shoulder. Damn that Jirobo pissed her off, it had taken so long for her crystal clone to find him that she and Yakumo had ended up having to do all the work on their own, the battle had practically been over by the time the big boned member of the sound 5 had arrived.

"Why must I do something about it?" Asked Jirobo defiantly.

"Because you haven't done shit to help out in this mission, because I gave you an order, because we have to stop Ido before she kills Raiga, and because I'll kill you if you carry on to undermine my authority!" Said Guren in anger, blasting Jirobo with an almost unbearable amount of killing intent.

That fool, how dare he disrespect her of all people like that, she ought to show him just who he thought he was dealing with when this was all over. The inconsiderate bastard, here she was, with two of her crystal clones carrying the demon brother's unconscious bodies, and with that doujutsu kid on her back and yet he, who was doing practically nothing dared to ask why he should be the one to do something, the nerve of him.

"Um...gomen pretty nee san...um...?" Stuttered the boy on Guren's back fearfully with a soft and almost feminine voice.

"What! You better not try anything funny you little brat! You won't live to regret it..." Threatened Guren, showing her ruthless nature that she had developed through her harsh upbringing. She was intentionally baiting the little kid off course, she wasn't one to take chances, having an enemy in such close proximity to you with your back turned the other side to them was a recipe for suicide to most shinobi. But off course, she wasn't most shinobi, she was Guren, the sole crystal release practitioner in the elemental nations, that's why she could do what she was doing, because her whole body was covered in her near indestructable **crystal release armour**. If the boy tried anything funny, not only wouldn't it work against her armour, but she'd snap his neck immediately afterwards.

_'Although, he probably already knows about my armour, if the visual prowess of his doujutsu are as potent as we think they are...' _Thought Guren.

"Aaahm...no I'm not going to try anything, I promise!" Shouted the kid in fear, he is a 5 year old boy with a round face, red eyes and purplish hair with two medium length bangs framing his face and another two shorter bangs covering his forehead except through the middle.

"I...its just...I wanted to ask you to please kill me too...I don't want to continue to live in a world without Raiga sama, I...I failed him, I was supposed to be his eyes and help him become the strongest, but I...I...sniff" cried the little boy in emotional pain. The thought of such a young person being in so much pain that he practically begged for his life to be taken touched something in Guren's hardened and cold heart, he reminded her so much of how she used to be before she met Orochimaru sama, not having a anyone precious in life and feeling useless and hopeless. Her fierce eyes softened into ones of sadness and sympathy, her facial features taking on a softer tone and her lips quirking into a kind smirk.

"Hey, I'm sorry...I didn't know you felt like that." Apologised Guren, shocking her two conscious companions, Jirobo even more so then the kid, since he knew just how heartless the crystal princess could be.

"W-what...?" Asked the kid with wide eyes.

"Heh...don't worry squirt, we're not here to kill any of you, we just want you guys to join our ninja village that's all. So you can relax okay." Said Guren, projecting her voice enough for the kid to hear through the wind friction from travelling at such high speeds through the tree tops.

"R-really, you're not going to kill Raiga sama, onee san?" Asked the kid.

_'Tche! He's more worried about that homicidal fool then even himself.' _Thought Guren with a slight roll of the eyes.

"No we won't, I promise!" Replied Guren.

"Thanks a lot onee san!" Shouted the kid happily.

"Tche, whatever! Hey what's your name anyway brat?" Asked Guren, trying to hide the smile on her face.

"My name is Kurosaki Ranmaru demo... Onee san, even if you won't kill Raiga sama, I'm still worried, there's something evil inside of Kimmimaro, and its making him attack Raiga sensei with the intent to kill. Could you please um...could you please help me stop him?" Asked Ranmaro.

_'Amazing, that he was able to sense and possibly even see Yakumo's mind transfer technique. Just what is this brat anyway.' _Thought Jirobo.

"Sure we'll stop em, don't worry about a damn thing okay, but we're going to need your help to do that, we need you to use your eyes to help us find them." Said Guren, wanting to test the limits of the boy's abilities, not that they didn't really need his abilities, because they did, still, it wouldnt hurt to find out just how much potential the kid had with those eyes and to determine the limits of his abilitiies

"Okay, I'll try!" Said Ranmaro, the only visible sign that he was now using his doujutsu being the red glow that his pupils were exhibiting.

"There...!" Said Ranmaro.

"Where?" Asked Guren.

"Straight ahead, 2 miles straight ahead!" Shouted Ranmaru.

"Alright! I'm going to leave you behind for a while, I'll have one of my crystal clones carry you while I go on ahead to save your friend." Said Guren with a reassuring smile.

"No!" Said Jirobo a little too loudly.

"Huh? What the hell is wrong with you you lazy bastard?" Asked Guren, her short temper getting the best of her a little.

"Stay with Ranmaru, I'll handle this, I'll prove to you and everyone that I'm more then just a fat and lazy guy." Said Jirobo with a serious expression, causing Guren to stare at him with a mixture of skepticism and contemplation.

"..."

"..."

"..."

"Alright...let's see what you can do." Said Guren after a long and uncomfortable silence.

"Thank you, Guren sama!" Said Jirobo.

"Yeah whatever, just get going already." Replied Guren irritably.

"Alright!" Saluted Jirobo, jumping forward into the air and speeding through hand seals for a jutsu.

_'What's he up to?' _Thought Guren.

**"Ninja Art: Multi-Size Technique!"** Shouted Jirobo, expanding his body into a giant but even fatter version of himself. Not wasting anytime, the orange haired giant went straight into his next jutsu, initiating another transformation

"**Ninja Art: Human Bullet Technique!" **Shouted Jirobo. His body expanded horizontally before his head and limbs got sucked into his body, turning him into a giant human ball. But it didn't end there, his body started spinning rapidly in a vertical direction, crashing against the ground and then rolling at incredible speeds on the one spot where it landed.

_'What the hell is that fool doing? He's supposed to run ahead and stop Raiga, not attack the innocent ground!" _Thought Guren furiously.

**"Secret Earth Style: Universal Assimilation**!" Shouted Jirobo, activating his third technique in succession.

Guren and Ranmaru watched in stunned silence as chunks of earth and debris got ripped out of the ground, attaching themselves to the deadly human bullet. With the manipulation of earth chakra, Jirobo was able to not only attach huge chunks of rock to his body, but even fuse the earth into his skin, making his skin much harder then normal.

_'This is incredible! He's combining his secret __**universal assimilation **__with the Akimichi secret jutsu in order to increase the body resistance and destructive power of the Akimichi clan's __**human bullet technique. **__Not only that, but the extra weight will increase the spin of his jutsu and the extra spin can potentially increase the speed of his jutsu. This is unbelievable, who would have thought that Jirobo could have grown so much.' _Thought Guren.

_'Still, what is he planning to do? I can't bring myself to believe that even he is dense enough to just show off for no particular reason, he must have plan of some sort, doesn't he?' _Thought Guren, unable to comprehend the reasons behind her comrade's actions.

**"Assimilated Rock Tank!" **Jirobo propelled himself out of the creator that had formed on the ground, landing harshly on the ground and then rolling towards their destination at incredible speeds, leaving a trail of destruction in his path.

_'Okay, I think I understand now. That jutsu is not yet ready to be used in battle, it takes too long to set up, giving the enemy more then enough time to think up a counter strategy. Activating the jutsu before initiating contact with the enemy is a good idea though, not only that, but he can cover great distances with that jutsu in a short span of time. Impressive, fatso is a lot smarter than I give him credit for.' _Thought Guren.

"Onee san, why is Jirobo san using earth style jutsu?" Asked Ranmaru.

"Huh...what the heck are you talking about squirt, what's wrong with earth techniques?" Asked Guren with a confused expression.

"Well, I thought that Doton was supposed to be weak against Raiton, Raiga sama is the best Raton user in the world you know." Said Ranmaru softly, a look of concern etched on his facial features. Guren's eyes widened suddenly in surprise at the boy's words, how could she have been so...no, how could Jirobo have been so stupid!

"Hold on, I'm gonna try and catch up with him!" Said Guren, increasing her tree jumping speed by almost two times.

_'Almost there, gonna teach that Ido whose boss!' _Thought Yakumo fursiously. She had changed her outfit since she moved to Oto, now wearing greenish camourflouge bagy pants with black, personalised combat boots, a brown short sleeved and tight fitting t-shirt with a black customized Oto flak jacket on top with three scroll pouches on each side. Tied around her left thigh is a brown comourflaged weapons pouch.

**Loud Rumble!**

_'What on earth is that? It feels almost like...like an earthquake...' _Thought Yakumo, halting her chase on her _mother _on a thick tree branch to take stock of the situation.

_'Something big is coming this way...wait...that chakra, isn't that...Jirobo!' _Thought Yakumo, her head snapping backwards followed by her body only to gasp in shock and fear at the giant ball of rubble rolling her way with more then impressive speed, destroying everything in site, snapping big strong trees as if they were nothing but twigs.

"Aaaaah! What the hell Jirobo you bastard!" Screamed Yakumo in terror, but was able to quickly recover and use an instant substitution with the speed and skill worthy of her **special jounin **status, which was earned because of her S class level in torture and interogation, stealth and infiltration, and assassination - skills that she had been able to attain thanks to her Genjutsu Kekkei Genkei and her mastery of Mind Walking Techniques, it also helped that she was also a sensor type, although not as good as Karin or her Naruto kun but good nontheless. She had yet to make the full Jounin rank because she had yet to master two elemental affinities, which was the basic requirement for someone to become an Oto jounin. There was however an unspoken or unwritten rule that every Jounin had to master sound and vibration manipulation and one elemental affinity to make jounin instead of just using two mainstream elements. She had already mastered sound manipulation, which made her one step closer to attaining her jounin status, she now just needed to find out what her natural element was and then master it to become a full fledged Jounin, the youngest ever in Oto's short history.

_'Damn that Jirobo, he's going to pay for that, I'll have Ido visit his dreams tonight, that will teach him!' _Thought Yakumo, panting slightly not from over exertion but from the unwanted excitement and adrenaline that Jirobo's _attack _had provoked.

**"Ahahahaha! I hope you've planned your funeral just like you've been doing for all your victims, because I'm tired of playing with you now!" **Said the demented voice from the white haired Kaguya's lips.

"Damn you Kimmimaro, there's still time you know, if you apologise, I meight just postpone your funeral for a few years." Replied Raiga from his position five metres away from the 9 year old Kaguya.

_**'This guy, he still hasn't figured out that he isn't fighting that little boy, hehe...baka!' **_Thought Ido in amusement.

**"Hehehehe! Sorry, but no deal! Dance Of the Clemetis: Flower!" **Screeched the demoness, transforming her hosts left arm into a large bone drill before propelling herself at the mentally unstable swordsman with impressive speed.

"Sugoi...I can't believe her mind walking techniques have improved enough that she can even fight at such a high level with the victim's own jutsu." Said Juugo thoughtfully.

"Yeah, Yakumo chan's really amazing, she's so strong and creative and...and beautiful and sexy and deadly and..."

"Okay okay I get it otouto, haha, damn you're so whipped." Said Juugo, laughing at the blonde's expensive.

"S-shut up!" Sputtered Naruto with a small blush adorning his whiskered cheeks.

"Haha! Alright, whatever you say bro, but what are we going to do about Ido, are we just gonna let her kill Raiga?" Asked Juugo casually.

"Nah don't worry about them, Yakumo-chan is close by and I can sense Jirobo's chakra even closer. We'll let them deal with it, it is their mission after all." Replied the shark toothed blond.

"Fine by me...huh, isn't that...Jirobo?" Asked Juugo, staring at the giant ball of rock and rubble in the air.

"Damn you brat! When did you get so strong!" Screamed Raiga furiously. He couldn't believe the little brat was pushing him so hard, granted he wasn't going all out, but he shouldn't need to go all out to defeat a 9 year old brat. Not only that, but the kid's drilling bone almost broke straight through his swords and would have drilled right through if he hadn't activated the lightning current through the swords to increase the power and penetration. Still, it was taking both his arms just to keep the boy at bay, holding the dual swords in both hands across each other to maintain balance.

_'So his bones have a natural resistance to lightning huh? But, can the same be said about his actual flesh? I don't think so.' _Thought Raiga.

"I'm not going to play around with you anymore bouzo! This is where it ends!" Shouted Raiga with a snarl on his face, pushing back against the white haired Kaguya with enough force to make the bone user skid a distance of 3 metres backwards. Raiga, not giving the boy a chance to retaliate quickly stuck his swords into the ground and activated his next technique.

**"Lightning Burial: Banquet Of Lightning!" **Said Raiga with a nasty smirk on his face, creating several thunderbolts from his swords that cut through the ground at rapid speeds, too fast for Ido, who was not yet fully used to her temporal body, to react before the attack hit her, sending a powerful electrical current through her body. The electrical current was so powerful that her host's insides would have been completely fried beyond recognision if she hadn't covered the entire body with the lightning resistant bone just beneath the surface of the skin. The shock was not enough to kill her, but more then enough to completely paralyse her.

"I see, you created a bone armour underneath your skin to protect yourself from my raiton, demo..." Said Raiga, staring at the patches of bone that were showing under the torn skin of his opponent in awe, though trying his best to hide it.

"You don't have any armour around your eyes do you...I can reach your brain with my sword through your eye socket and kill you...ahahahahaha!" Laughed Raiga, an insane gleem forming in his eyes.

_**'Well, it was good while it lasted, time to return to the mistress!' **_Thought Ido, cancelling the mind transfer jutsu just as Raiga prepaired himself to thrust both his kiba into the boy's eye sockets.

**"Assimilated Rock Tank!" **Raiga was forced to abandon his fatal attack on the young Kaguya or risk getting crushed into a pancake, jumping away from the immediate vicinity of the attack to avoid instant death. Kimmimaro, who had just regained control of his mind however did not have a chance, the giant rock hard ball crashing into him with enough speed and force to make earthquake like ripples all across the ground, creating a massive creator below the two combatants. Jirobo, having fused his body with the earth with his **universal assimilation **was able sense Raiga's position through the earth, propeeling himself out of the creator and into the air in preparation for his next assualt on the unstable swordsman.

"Hey isn't that Jirobo?" Asked Juugo softly.

"Yeah, but what is that jutsu, I've never seen it before?" Asked Naruto.

"I don't know, but it looks like the Human Bullet Technique of the Akimichi clan." Said Juugo, causing his otouto's eyes to widen suddenly in realization.

"What is it, something wrong?" Asked Juugo.

"No, nothing wrong, but I think I get it now, damn that Jirobo is full of surprises, he's managed to combine the **human bullet technique **with the** universal assimilation technique**, I can feel the doton chakra from his jutsu, incredible!" Exclaimed Naruto in awe.

"Really! Wow, I never thought Jirobo was such a ninjutsu genius, you made the right choice when you chose him after all." Said Juugo casually, silently impressed by the development of one of his direct subordinates.

"Kuso! Not another one of those maggots! You people just keep crawling out of nowhere don't you? I'd like to thank you for taking care of the brat for me but I'm sick of your interfering, I will make a wonderful funeral for you too if you want one!" Said Raiga in anger.

_'If can interogate him and make him tell me where they took Ranmaru before I burry him though!' _Thought Raiga.

**"Spiked Assimilated Rock Tank!" **Shouted Jirobo from inside the massive ball of destruction, protruding large rock spikes all over the circumference of the rock ball before launching himself at the swordsman once again.

_'Just as I suspected, he's using some kind of doton ninjutsu to attack, perfect!' _Thought Raiga with a sinister smirk. Raiga pointed his swords upwards before gathering a giant ball of electrical energy between the two swords.

"Don't underestimate the power of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen Of The Mist! **Lightning Ball!"** Shouted Raiga before throwing the ball of energy at the giant earth sphere with great force, the two jutsu clashing mid-air in a violent, loud but beautiful display of power, creating a stalemate between the two jutsu, neither seemingly losing or winning the battle.

"He's using the super speed of his spin to create an air resistance to deflect and redirect the lightning from my attack, he's not as stupid as I thought...demo...he's still underestimating me! **Lightning Ball Explosion!**" Shouted Raiga, detonating the high level raiton jutsu, the result being a massive explosion that completely destroyed the rock armour. Jirobo was blown away with a massive force, crashing into the ground with a massive impact, his body digging a long and deep trench into the sandy ground.

"Jirobo! Hold on!" Shouted Juugo, gently laying down the unconscious body of Haku on the ground before running at the other orange haired boy's direction, only to be stopped by a firm grip on his shoulder.

"Naruto..what are you doing?" Asked Juugo.

"Relax aniki, leave Jirobo be." Said Naruto with a serious expression on his features.

"But..."

"Juugo, leave him be, this is a bridge that Jirobo needs to cross on his own. He needs to prove something to his opponent, his comrades, and most importantly, himself. Remember, Jirobo's dream is to have enough strength so that he can never lose a loved one again like he did his parents, to him, every battle is a test to see how much closer he has come to attaining that goal, helping him would make him feel like he is cheating the test. We must only interfere when it becomes absolutely neccessary, not now, he's still got a lot of fight in him, just sit back and watch...no...actually, you should go and get the Kaguya out of the way, he's still alive, his bone armour must have protected him." Said Naruto.

"Alright, if you say so, but I won't lose anyone on my watch, ultimately, the responsibility falls on me as the commannder of this mission, I'll interfere when I think it is neccessary." Replied Juugo.

"That's fine by me aniki, wouldn't have it any other way." Replied Naruto with a small smirk.

"Kuso...cough...cough...that was a terrible thing to do to someone who only wanted to pulverise you...cough...cough..." Said Jirobo, walking out of the trench his body dug into the ground with numerous lacerations all over his body, the clothes on his upper body having been ripped to shreds.

"Tche, you're just another kid after all, how pathetic, and you expect us to join a ninja village whose elite shinobi are fat little weaklings like you?" Asked Raiga insultingly.

"You...did you...did you just call me fat?"Asked Jirobo with a sinister undertone, his eyes veiled by a dark shadow.

"Huh...yeah so what are you going to do about it you obesse asshole!" Replied Raiga, trying to provoke a reaction from the orange haired 9 year old.

"Its rude to call people fat, I'm...cough...going to teach you how to act like a gentleman!" Said Jirobo, taking out a small transparent container from weapons pouch with three different coloured pills inside it. One white with a green stripe, the second also white with a yellow stripe, and the third with a red stripe.

_'Huh! So he's managed to recreate the __**secret three coloured pills technique. **__Jirobo, I only gave you that scroll 12 months ago, for you to have come so far in such a short amount of time is more then impressive, I'm sure your parents are proud of you wherever they are." _Thought Naruto, watching the battle calmly from the sidelines.

**"Ninpo: Super Multi-Size Technique!" **Shouted Jirobo, having swallowed the green pill, Jirobo found his body filling up with a ridiculous amount of energy, his body converting the calories in his body into chakra for him to use. Using the new source of energy, Jirobo, without molding any hand seals activated his next jutsu, turning himself into a three story giant.

_'Just as I thought, he's managed to complete the full body expansion no jutsu, so...what are you planning to do now Jirobo, show us just how much you've grown.' _Thought Naruto.

"What the fuck! What the fuck are you?" Asked Raiga out loud, fear creeping into his soul, squeezing his heart in a tight grip like a snake on its prey. The was just something frightening about the way his opponent's appearance had changed, clearly humans were not meant to be that big, it was just so...unnatural.

"I'm the symbol of your defeat, and your lecturer of the gentlemen arts! **Earth Style Barrier: Earth Prison Of Magnificent Nothingness!" **Shouted Jirobo with his hands held out in front of him, creating a giant dome of earth, trapping the clinically insane swordsman inside the chakra draining dome.

'_That jutsu absorbs chakra doesn't it, I see, he must have realized that the regualr dome wouldn't be strong enough tor fast enough to trap Raiga, that's why he took the green pill and expanded his size, so that he can create a barrier so wide and strong that Raiga wouldn't be able to avoid getting trapped. The coloured pills are dangerous because of their ability to convert the body's calories into chakra, but he plans to slow down the negeative effects by absorbing extra energy from his opponent, and then use that energy to replenish himself when his opponent has been defeated. What a usefull method to use the coloured pills, he's using his own unique techniques to make provision for all his weaknesses. This is what they mean when they talk about ninjutsu geniuses.' _Thought Naruto...

**End Chapter**

**Next chapter will be part two of this one. **

**The next chapter will be the longest one yet, minimum 16 thousand words and maximum 22 thousand!**

**Why, because I think that there is a possibility that I might not be able to update this story again for like three to four months.**

**Why? **

**Because the next chapter will be chapter 8, I don't want to focus too much on one story and neglect the others. So until all the others catch up, meaning until they all get to chapter 8, I won't be updating this one. **

**Akatsuki Heir is on chapter 5**

**Broken Fox, Caring Cat is on Ch 5**

**New World Order is on chapter 6.**

**That means that I will be typing a total of 8 chapters in order to get them all to be level with this one, that's why I said this one would be on hiatus for like three months or more, 8 chapters is a lot, especially for Akatsuki Heir, which has super long chapters.**

**Chapter Eight of Hope Of Oto will be up by next week sunday I think, I will make it long though because it will cover a lot of things and after next sunday though I 'm not sure when the next update will be, but for those that read any of the other stories there will be updates.**

**Not many people commented on Suzemebachi being part of the harem, but I've decided to add her, she deserves the happiness, and it will be good for her mental and emotional health.**

**The reviews, I will be answering all the reviews to this story over the next week and half via pm messages and I will try and answer the anonymous reviews (ones without fanfiction accounts) via an AN at the start of the next chapter and I thank all of those that have reviewed.**

**Anonymous flamers will be ignored, I dont mind flames really as long as you do it with your account so that I can respond to you privately, I will not however reply to cowards who hide behind their anonomity in order to flame, because that would require the use of an An to respond and I will not taint this fic for those who actually like reading it by responding to flames because obviously I will have to fight fire with fire in such a scenario. I was tempted to disallow anonymous reviews after reading the first anonymous flame but thought better of it, why should others suffer because of a a single person or a minority of people. Anyway thanks to all those that have delivered positive re-enforcement, I will reply as soon as possible.**

**Hope yaw enjoyed it, it wasn't my best chapter I have to admit, but I'll try my best to improve.**

**Spelling and Grammer for this chapter will be fixed by the end of tommorrow.**

**Hope yaw enjoyed it, peace.**


	8. Chapter 8

**DISCLAIMER:** I don't own Naruto or any other series or movie that I might use for inspiration.

**CHAPTER 8**

_**Hero Of Wave Country**_

**Akatsuki Base in the north...**

'_This is the boy from all those years ago, one of the boys that foolish pervert took in as students, no doubt about it! Who would have thought back then, that I would one day be working for these children as a mere pawn, who would have thought, that one of them would awaken the eyes of the Rikuudo Sennin himself! Why...why should I, who has trained so hard for all these years...I...who has researched and studied the secrets of ninjutsu and science for countless hours still be forced to bow to a mere child, all because of a small difference in DNA composition, all because of a different set of eyes.' _Thought Orochimaru bitterly, standing at the entrance of a cave with his comrades from the secret organisation of S ranked criminals known as Akatsuki. He was, along with everyone else, dressed in the standard Akatsuki outfits, which consisted of a black, high coloured cloak with red cloud decorations, blue ninja pants with white leg warmers and ninja sandals.

"Careful Orochimaru, I hope you don't think Leader sama appreciates you directing so much killing intent towards him. Things could get very bad very quickly...for you." Said Sasori in a deep, grouchy, and hoarse voice, using a tone that was neither normal nor a whisper, seemingly caring but at the same time not caring if the man they were speeking of heard him or not. He is a short, hunchbacked figure with a mostly bold head with the exception of a few braided strands of hair and a black desert scarf covering the bottom half of his face. His Akatsuki cloak covers his entire body, even his feet and on his head is a straw hat with bells hanging around the head.

"I couldn't have said it better myself, thank you Sasori san." Said a feminine voice from the shadows of the cave, thousands of paper slips gathered on the spot next to the two S ranked shinobi rapidly, forming into the humanoid shape of an angelic looking woman. She has blue hair,amber eyes , ultramarine eye shadow, and a labret piercing. Her eyelashes are shown to be a diagonal line at the bottom corner of her eyes and a light blue paper flower can be seen attached to her hair. She is clothed in the standard Akatsuki cloak and her Akatsuki ring is on her right middle finger that has the kanji for _white _on it with orange nail polish on her fingers. Instead of the standard sandals and leg-warmers, she has a pair of tight blue pants that also function as her shoes, with white high heels, inverting the organisation's standard colour scheme. Her name is Konan, the Angel Of Amegakure.

"Hn" grunted Sasori uncaringly.

"I'm going to personally keep an eye on you from here on out, Orochimaru. I've never trusted you nor did I encourage your membership in this organisation. Please be careful...Orochimaru san, you've been warned." Said Konan walking passed the two shinobi elegantly.

"You're only higher up in this organisation because of your friendship to Leader, in fact, you're only in this organisation because of your affilliation to him. Don't overestimate yourself little girl, even if I wanted to become a threat to this organisation, you would not be the one to take me down, you can be assured of that!" Hissed Orochimaru angrily.

"Watch yourself...Orochimaru, I'd hate for you to die so suddenly, you and I have done some great work together. Your arrogance is annoying but it wouldn't hurt to keep you around a little longer, you still owe me _that thing." _Said Sasori cryptically..

Konan didn't respond immediately to the sannin, only turning around slightly to look at him with the corner of her right eye before raising her right hand to her chest with a one handed ram sign.

"Big words, for someone who up until now, has been nothing but an explosion waiting to happen." Said Konan. In that instant, much to both Orochimaru and Sasori's shock, hundreds of small paper sheets pealed themselves off of Orochimaru's Akatsuki cloak, first slowly and one by one, and then rapidly in large quantities.

_'She attached paper sheets on his cloak with explosive tags without him noticing, without me noticing! Incredible! I've never heard of such a level of stealth techniques. This just goes to show that raw power alone is not everything in the ninja world, Orochimaru, will your arrogance allow you to learn this lesson?' _Thought Sasori in shock and wonder.

"You...when did you do this...you cursed child?" Spat Orochimaru in shock, fear, fury, confusion, and embarrassment.

"Perhaps I did this the same day you joined the organisation all those years ago, perhaps I did it just now when you arrived, or...I could say that I did it while you were busy throwing a tantrum and acting like a spoilt child. If you can't even figure out something like this by yourself, then you have no place demanding anything from me. I'll say it again, please be weary of me Orochimaru san, Akatsuki doesn't tolerate traitors, as the messenger of Kami, I shall be the one to smite you for your transgressions against my god, this is my duty, as Kami sama's angel." Said Konan, turning around and walking away with the grace and elegance of a true angel, eccentuated by the effects of all the paper slips that were re-ataching themselves to her form as she walked away towards the exit of the cave, where her god was waiting at the top of the spiraling stairs that led to the cave.

"Hehehehe! I can't believe you got whooped by a girl Orochimaru, you must be one of those guys that are all talk and no action hehehe!" Laughed _White _Zetsu from his position where half of his body was protruding from the wall, who was the more carefree side of a body that appears to be composed of two people. Zetsu has short green hair, yellow eyes, and that his body has two different coloured halves. His left side is completely white and the right side black with small white dots along his is easily distinguished by two large venus fly-trap like extensions that envelop his head and upper body, Unlike White Zetsu, which shows a normal mouth, nose, and eye, Black Zetsu shows no visible orifices at all and only his iris is visible.

**"Stop antagonizing him! Can't you for once act like an adult!" **Chastised black Zetsu, having an argument with himself.

"Hnhnhn! I can just imagine how Hiruko will react when he hears about this!" Laughed Kisame, a very tall and muscled man with a distinctive shark-like appearance complete with blue skin, small, round white eyes, gill like markings under his eyes and the trademark sharp, triangular teeth of The Seven Swordsman of the Mist. His dark blue hair is styled in the shape of a shark fin with a personalised forehead protector that also covers his ears, and is dressed in the standard Akatsuki outfit with a giant sword on his back.

The hate and rivalry between Hiruko Of The Chimera and Orochimaru Of The Sannin was no secret inside the organisation. Hiruko was a former Konohagakure shinobi who was from the same generation as Orochimaru, but they hated each other more then anything despite sharing the same birth place. Kisame thought it was strange, that two people with so many similarities couldn't even stand together in one room without the urge to murder the other one. Both were former Konoha Shinobi, both were unsatisfied with the state of their bodies and lack of special inherent powers, such as bloodline limits. Both were obsessed with the sharingan, forbidden jutsu, immortality, and general knowledge of the ninshu. Both their paths have lead them to Akatsuki and even the manner of their defection was similar, that being caught experimening on comrades and delving in the illegal practise of forbidden jutsu. So then, how come these people wanted nothing to do with each other, surely they could achieve great things if they worked together right? Well, what Kisame and most people didn't know was just how simple the answer to that question was...envy!

Yes, jealousy and envy was the bridge that was seperating the two from each other. Hiruko, as a child not from a shinobi clan and having no known shinobi backround was born with an especially weak body and his talent in the ninja arts was average at best, not achieving the status or receiving the label of _genius. _Because of this, no one paid attention to him, no one acknowledged him and no one tried to help him, he became all alone in the world and even his friends at the time, who would later gain recognition as the Densetsu no Sannin, left him behind and deserted him. Hiruko's eventually broke, determined to show the world that even a non genius could attain power through hard work and science alone, Hiruko obsessed over forbidden jutsu and was eventually able to create his own forbidden jutsu, the **chimera no jutsu**. But, his secret research and experiments were eventually discovered by the Sandaime Hokage, who ordered the Sannin, who at the time he still considered his friends despite the deep seated resentment he carried in his heart for their abandonment of him, to assissinate him. This was the final straw, Hiruko managed to fake his death by replacing himself with one of his chimera experiments and from that day on swore revenge on the Hidden Leaf and the Densetsu no Sannin.

This hate was replicated by Orochimaru for different but similar reasons. Orochimaru, who grew up hailed as a once in a generation prodigy couldn't bring himself to comprehend the reality that Hiruko, a no name, talentless shinobi has achieved just as much, if not more then he had in his lifetime. He'd spent years, countless years studying, researching, experimenting on others and himself, rising and falling, all in his attempts to attain immortality so that he can live long enough to discover all the secrets of this world. The fact that Hiruko had advanced even further then him in this regard was something he simply couldn't accept, it made everything he had done up until now seem incredibly useless. Kakuzu was different, Kakuzu was a genius too, just like him, and Kakuzu had lived for almost twice the number of years that he had, it only made sense that he would attain immortality before him, but Hiruko! That just didn't make sense at all. It wasn't so much that Hiruko had attained immortality, he hadn't done it yet, he still needed to implant one more kekei genkei into his chimera no jutsu before he could achieve that goal, but what irked Orochimaru more was the fact that he could have done it already if he wanted to, the only reason he hadn't was because he wanted the last chimera to be a sharingan and those were very hard to find nowadays. Another thing that irked him about Hiruko was his possession of four kekei genkei, even after so many years, Orochimaru has been unable to reduce the death toll of dna implanting to an acceptable enough level that he could implant them into himself, but that no name fool had done it like it was nothing!

"Krrkrrr...don't you dare mention that name in front of me!" Spat Orochimaru with an ugly snarl on his face.

"Heh...? You trying to start a fight with me too, I'll have you know that shark trumps snake ten times out of ten. Off course, I'd like to think that a scientist like you would want to test out that theory for himself, isn't that right...Orochimaru san?" Asked Kisame with a toothy grin, trying to provoke a reaction from the sannin, his right hand firmly wrapped around the handle of his giant sword that was situated on his back.

"Stop it Kisame! There's no need to kill each other. Finding a new partner will be troublesome, and not to mention time consuming. You know I don't like to waste my time or anyone's time for that matter." Warned Sasori.

"What's that supposed to mean exactly Sasori, are you trying to imply that I would lose to this savage beast?" Asked Orochimaru defensively, unable to resist the jab at Kisame.

"That's not what I'm saying, if you go into battle against Kisame, there's a fifty percent chance that you will die, if you don't go into battle, there's a hundred percent chance that you will live. I'm simply making the obvious choice. In any case, where is Hiruko, Zetsu?" Asked Sasori, though it sounded more like a demand then anything else. Orochimaru bristled at the casual and disrespectful dismissal, but chose to contain his displeasure to himself, albeit reluctantly.

"Hiruko is currently on a mission with Kakuzu and Furido. **Their mission is to recruite a new partner for Kakuzo, an immortal shinobi from Yukigakure." **Replied Zetsu.

"Heh! Four zombies in one place! Should be interesting, all of a sudden I wish I was there to observe the encounter, it will be an interesting battle for sure." Thought Kisame out loud.

"Don't worry, **I've sent a clone to record the battle.**" Said Zetsu.

"Hehe, as expected of you Zetsu san! If anything, you're the most reliable guy in our gloomy little organisation." Said Kisame in a tone that made it unclear whether he was being sincere or not.

"Hn, we're running behind schedule! This newbie has a nerve, making me wait on him like this! I hate it when people make me wait, it makes me angry, and when I'm angry, I can't be held accountable for my actions...!" Said Sasori with a sinister tone.

"Please control yourself Sasori san, no one likes waiting, demo, I don't want to have to look for a new partner so soon, please forgive him this time." Said Kisame, never losing the look of amusement on his shark like features.

"Do you even know the name of this recruit, just who exactly are we waiting for? I have better things to do then to just sit around here, why do all of us even need to be here anyway?" Asked Orochimaru in frustration.

"Tche! Leader wouldn't say, I do hope he's strong though, it would be sad if he were to have an...unfortunate accident hnhnhn!" Laughed Kisame.

"Oi Kisame, you should show a little more faith in your partner, Leader has a good eye for talent, he wouldn't choose someone week for you. **Hn, its amazing that the organisation has lasted this long, I'm not sure we would have been able to avoid killing each other without Pein sama's leadership.**" Said Zetsu.

'_Kukukuku...if anyone is going to be destroying this organisation its going to be me! First I'll start with Konoha, then I will kill Hiruko and the rest of these fools, and its all thanks to one of the very monsters that they're hunting. Kukuku, recruiting Naruto was the best thing that could have happened for me and Oto, I'll have to reward Kabuto sometime, it could not have happened without him.' _Thought Orochimaru with a sinister smirk, sticking out his abnormally long tongue just like his namesake.

_'Just a few more years, a few more years and I will have the man-power to destroy everyone who opposes me!' _

"Did you sort him out?" Asked Pein in a deep and emotionless voice, a man of just above average height with medium length spiky orange hair. He bears six piercings, a metal bar through each ear, three studs through the side of his upper nose, and one spike stud on each end of the bottom lip. He also has three piercings on each wrist, at least one on his upper wrist and some just under his neck. He is also dressed in the full standard Akatsuki outfit.

"Hai, demo, I don't have any faith in his loyalty, nothing I or anyone does will change that, he is going to betray us, there's no doubt in my mind about it" Replied Konan neutrally.

"Orochimaru is operating under the belief that we are unaware of his _extra mural activities_, his ignorance will be his downfall in the end. Come, let us go back inside, our new recruite should arrive any moment now. Perhaps, as a test of his loyalty, I might give him the honour of disposing of his former Konoha ally." Said Pein, still looking ahead into the far distance, allowing the rain he had created to to drizzle over him.

"Uchiha Shishui, a prodigy of the Uchiha clan, the man who slayed his own kin, very fitting it would be indeed, for him to be the one to inherit such a mission." Said Konan, turning around, along with her long time friend to walk back towards the cave.

**Wave Country...**

"You okay Jirobo?" Asked Naruto, concerned about the health of his friend, who was leaning against him for support.

"Y-yeah...I'll be okay, I just need a minute, sorry...for being a burden...cough!" Replied Jirobo between coughing fits, a small trail of blood leaking out from his lips.

"A burden? I dunno Jirobo, someone who can defeat one of the great ninja swordsman of the mist...if someone like that can be considered a burden, then I'm not sure if there's anyone in the world who isn't a burden." Replied Naruto sarcastically, a small smile on his face showing his happiness for his friend's accomplishment.

"Hehehe...y-yeah I g-guess you're r-right." Replied Jirobo jovially, even though more blood was leaking out of his mouth during his coughing fits.

"You've sustained a lot of internal damage, I guess you weren't quite ready for the yellow pill." Said Naruto with an analytical mind.

"Yeah, but I had no choice.. cough!" Replied Jirobo sickly, and it was true, he really didn't get the choice or whether to use the yellow pill or not. Raiga's lightning dragon tornado had almost broken through his earth barrier event though Jirobo was absorbing his chakra and would have done so if Jirobo hadn't taken the yellow pill, clearly he had underestimated the depth of the mad swordsman's chakra pool for him to have been able to use such a high level technique from inside the dome. In the end the crazy swordsman was still human and had his limits, eventually losing consciousness from chakra exhustion.

"Let me heal you, I'll have you all good in no time at all." Offered Naruto.

"No!" Replied Jirobo a little too loud, causing Naruto to stare at him incedulously.

"I mean..no, I have to attain a natural resistance to the pill and my body has to adapt Naturally until I can use the pill without consequence. Plus, this will help me to master my calorie restoration jutsu." Explained Jirobo.

_'So I was right after all, he was using the chakra he absorbed from Raiga to replenish himself, alright, I won't do anything to hinder your growth, Jirobo.' _Thought Naruto.

"I understand, just make sure you don't die though." Said Naruto, creating four shadow clones without any hand seals. The clones, already knowing what they had to do jumped straight into action, one replacing the original in carrying Jirobo and the other taking away Raiga's dual swords and Zabuza's Kubikiribocho, the third one went on to pick up and carry the demon of the mist while the fourth one picked up Raiga's limp form, placing him on its shoulders carefully. The original went straight to the barrier that contained Suigetsu.

"Heh, and here I was thinking that you'd all forgotten about me, guess it was too much to hope for huh?" Asked Suigetsu sarcastically.

"If we'd forgotten about you, then you would have been trapped in that barrier forever, be glad that we didn't." Said Naruto with a shark like grin, baring his razor sharp triangular teeth that made him look like a member of the organisation that Suigetsu was formerly apprenticed to.

"Heh, nice teeth, I like em." Said Suigetsu with his own toothy grin.

"I could say the same about yours." Replied Naruto.

"..."

"..."

"So um..what are you going to do to us?" Asked Suigetsu, now adopting a serious expression.

"Not sure what to do about you, I was contemplating absorbing your chakra, but I'll have to take down the barrier to do that." Said Naruto simply.

"I won't run away you know, what would be the point? You have my comrades." Said Suigetsu.

"I believe they call it a temporary retreat, you could run away and then come back to stage a rescue mission for your friends." Said Naruto.

"Yeah, but I won't do that, we already agreed that we would join your village if we lost remember. We ninja swordsmen are cruel, vicious, sadistic, and homicidal in our way of the ninja, that is how we were taught and those are the characteristics that are admired about us. But you should know that above all of that, we are taught loyalty and honour." Explained Suigetsu.

_'I can't sense his chakra from inside the barrier, so I can't tell if he is lying or not using that method but...it certainly sounds plausible, after all, they only went rogue because they were chased out by the corrupt Mizukage, whom they were trying to assassinate in order to save Kiri. Still, I'll need some kind of insurance.' _Thought Naruto.

"If what you say is true, then you won't have a problem with me holding on to the blue wave gun for a while will you?" Asked Naruto.

"Well...alright, but you know, you're going to have to take down the barrier so that I can give it to you..." Trailed off Suigetsu with devious grin.

"You underestimate me too much..Suigetsu." Said Naruto, reciprocating the devious look that Suigetsu was directing at him, causing Suigetsu to narrow his eyes in suspicion. Naruto summoned a tri pronged kunai that has a seal tag wrapped around the handle from a seal on his wrist and threw it on the ground between his own feet. The blonde then blazed through five hand seals before clasping his hands together and flaring his chakra. In that instant, when the blonde clasped his hands together, the blue wave gun dissappeared from Suigestu's shoulder, appearing on the other side of the barrier, stuck on the ground between the whisker faced blonde's feet next to his hiirashin kunai.

"M-my sword, how did you..." Trailed off Suigetsu, his hand intinctively reaching for his sword that was recently displaced from his back, eyes widening slightly, first in shock, and then realisation.

"You...you placed one of those seals on my sword too?" Asked Suigetsu.

"Glad I don't have to explain it to you, I'm going to seal away this baby here and then de-activate the barrier, make sure you behave" said Naruto, popping a small storage scroll from the seal on his right wrist and unwrapping it before placing it on the ground next to Suigetsu's sword.

"You have all your treasures and belongings sealed up on your wrist don't you?" Asked Suigetsu, not receiving a response from the blond, who couldn't read his lips because his eyes were directed at the scroll and the sword he was about to seal away.

_'Forgot he couldn't hear me, damn!' _Thought Suigetsu, watching the blond seal away his precious sword.

"Alright, I'm going to take down the barrier now!" Said Naruto jovially, clasping his hands together in concentration. The blond then released a chakra pulse, causing the barrier to shimure slightly before disappearing completely.

"Done! Now remember to behave or else I'll be forced to drain away all of your chakra." Said Naruto, walking around the perimeter of the barrier in order to pick up the four kunai that he had used to set up the barrier.

"Tche, whatever!" Said Suigetsu with a small tick mark on his forehead, feeling uncomfortable without his beloved sword, which was a momento that his brother had left for him.

"Welcome to the Otogakure no Sato forces, I'm Jugo of the Scales, leader of Orochimaru sama's elite guard and second in comman of Oto's security. I'm looking to working with you." Said Juugo from behind Suigetsu, who had been staring at the blond with contemplating look on his face. Suigetsu turned around to look at the source of the voice, only to see the very big ten year old he recognised as the one that took out Haku with Kimmimaro placed on his left shoulder and his right hand extended for a handshake.

_'This guy took out Haku in just two moves, so many strong guys to fight and train with, maybe I should give this my best shot. I can't wait to see just how many other monsters this place has, after all, us monsters belong together!' _Thought Suigetsu with excitement.

"Hozuki Suigetsu, the second coming of the demon, remember that!" Said Suigetsu with a mischievious smirk, trapping Juugo's outstretched hand in a firm hand shake.

"Nice to meet you Suigetsu, I'll be sure not to forget it. In any case, now that you're one of us, could you help me out a little, I need you to carry Haku's body for a while, until we get to the bridge builder's house." Said Juugo.

"Tche! Not even 5 seconds on the job and I'm already being ordered around, tche, control freak!" Said Suigetsu irritably but following the subtle command nonetheless.

"Thank you." Said Juugo humorously.

"We should hurry up, we need to get to Tazuna san's house quickly, I left my clones behind to protect his daughter and grandson, but I'd much rather be there in person, at least until we've assassinated Gato." Said Naruto, walking back to his comrades after collecting his weapons.

"Hmmm...alright, let's get going then. Hey Suigetsu! We're going now, hurry up!" Shouted Juugo over his shoulder.

"Where are we going Naruto kuuun?" Asked Yakumo from behind the blonde, wrapping her arms around his belly with her neck at the crook of his neck.

"Y-Yakumo-chan?" Asked the blonde nervously, even though he'd already sensed her approaching, still, the feeling of her warmth against his body so intimately made him lose all coherent thoughts, even though he should have been used to it by now. He'd asked Juugo about it some time ago, why he felt like this whenever he made body contact with her even after knowing her for so long. Juugo had just said that it was a good thing because it meant that he was maturing, as in, he was starting to realise his true feelings for her, that they were more then just friends and that the kind of physical contact they were used to having with each other wasn't how normal friends behaved, but how lovers behaved. Naruto had thought that having the chat with Juugo would have helped but it had the opposite effect, he could not remember a time when he was so nervous around her before, it had taken a long time but Naruto was finally able to accept that he was truly wipped, he was crazy about her and he would do anything to make her happy.

"What's wrong Naruto kun, you seem awefully nervous as of late, you haven't been misbehaving have you?" Asked Yakumo sweetly, her breathe tickling on the blond's ear, causing the blond to shiver slightly, and not in a bad way either.

"Um...no its just t-that I'm glad you're safe, I was worried about you you know, not because I don't trust in your strength but you know...um..."

"Hahaha! Relax Naru kun, you don't have to explain anything to me. I know what you mean, I was worried about you too." Said Yakumo with an angelic giggle, burying face into the Naruto's back, tightening her grip with her left arm on his torso slightly while taking her naru kun's right hand into her own and squeezing on it affectionately.

"Yakumo chan..I...I..."

"I know, I love you too Naru kun." Replied Yakumo, cutting off the blond mid-sentence.

"I...when we get home, would you like to..."

"Yes I'd love to go on a date with you, took you long enought to ask." Said Yakumo, trying to stiffle a giggle at the gobsmacked expression that she knew the blond had on his face.

"H-how did you know I was going to ask that?" Sputtered Naruto.

"Hmmm...does it matter, I've already decided that you're going to take me on a date anyway. Ido told me to be assertive when dealing with boys, I know you love me, and I know I love you, does anything else need to be said?" Asked Yakumo rhetorically.

"Um...no! I...I guess not." Replied the blonde with a light blush.

"Um...I know this is not quite an appropriate time for this but um..." Said the whisker faced blonde, turning around to face the girl he thought of as the love of his life.

"What is it N-Naruto kun?" Asked Yakumo tentatively, a pinkish hue forming on her creamy skin thanks to the intense blue eyes that were staring at her.

"I've wanted to do this for a long time now, I don't think I can hold back...anymore..." whispered the blonde, attaching his lips onto the exotic beauty that was Kurama Yakumo, his most precious person, with his arms wrapped around her waist.

"N-Naruto kuunnnnnnnn!" Yakumo moaned in pleasure and surprise, feeling her head spin all of a sudden, but not in a bad way, not at all. At the back of her mind, she still couldn't believe this was finally happening, in fact, she couldn't believe it had happened like this, she'd always thought that she would have to be the one that finally broke the ice between the two of them. Ido had told her that boys are cowards who are scared of intimacy and commitment, turns out she was wrong after all, she should have known better then to trust Ido's judgement.

Naruto couldn't believe how good this felt, to have his precious Yakumo-chan in his arms like this was like being in heaven, her lips were so wet and soft, it felt incredible, definately much better then he thought his first kiss would be.

_'I wonder what will happen if I try that thing from the orange book.' _Thought Naruto, licking Yakumo's bottom lip gently with his toungue to demand entrance. Yakumo was broken from her blissful state by the blonde's actions, letting out an 'O' in surprise, which had the effect of her opening her mouth slightly, allowing the blonde the entrance he demanded into the inside of her mouth.

The blonde thrust his toungue into her, trying to explore and taste every single inch of the sweetness that was her mouth, their toungues locked in a fierce and pleasurable dual for dominance. Yakumo tried to fight the mindblowing battle between their wet appendages but eventually gave out, Naruto would have none of it, completely dominating her and claiming her is his, squeezing her lithe body tight against his own, with Yakumo's arms wrapped around his neck. But all things, even great things have to come to an end, they were still humans after all and humans need air to breathe, and so the two young prodigies were forced to break their lip lock, a small string of saliva connecting their lips defiantly but even that was forced to break off, causing the two prodigies to both let out sighs of dissapointment at the loss of contact.

"Wow...! That was so amazing Yakumo-chan, you taste so nice and sweet and..."

"Disgusting! That was absolutely disgusting! I can't believe you, I thought you were cool and strong but now I know you're just a pussy!" Shouted Suigetsu, making lewd gagging sounds with his throat for emphasis.

"S-shut up! You wouldn't know love if it hit you in the face! Right Naruto kun?" Shouted Yakumo with a deep red hue on her cheeks, flustered from embarrassment, irritation, and from a certain act that she had just willingly participated in with the love of her life.

"Y-yeh! D-definately!" Sputtered the blonde, wrapping his arms tightly around her affectionately.

"Yeah, he wouldn't know love if it screamed right next to his ear!" Said Naruto. Yakumo sighed happily in the blonde's arms, this day could not have gone better, she completed her second S rank mission, defeating Raiga and the demon brothers in the process with her team. Got Naruto to confess his feelings for her and then received her first kiss from the only man she ever wanted to kiss, all in a days work. Yep! This day could not possibly have gone better.

"Aargh! Juugo, tell them, this is disgusting right?" Asked/demanded Suigestsu.

"Ah...ehehehe...well...um...not really, this is what men do you know, Naruto has just taken a giant leap on his way to manhood." Said Juugo.

"Tche! I can't believe I just agreed to live in a village full of pantsies like you guys, I don't need a woman to become a man!" Said Suigetsu petulently.

"Yeah, I'll try and remember that on your wedding day." Replied Juugo.

"Don't hold your breathe!" Said Suigetsu irritably.

"In any case, we should get going Naruto, you can finish whatever the two of you started later." Said Juugo

"Alright alright, um..we'll talk later Yaku-chan, okay?" Said Naruto, planting a chaste kiss on Yakumo's forehead, causing her to blush for the figurative millionth time that day.

"H-hai, I'd like that Naru kun." Said Yakumo. It was Naruto's turn to be flustered when she place a wet kiss on his sensitive whisker marks, causing him to purr, which in turn caused Yakumo to let out an angelic giggle at the blonde's expense.

"By the way, where's Guren?" Asked Juugo.

"She's on her way, her chakra is close by, if we go now, we'll meet up with her on the way." Replied Naruto.

"Good, then we go now!" ordered Juugo.

"Wait! Untie these damn chains brat! I'm not some parcel you can carry around!" Shouted Zabuza gruffly.

"Alright fine, but I'm gonna hold on to the Kubikiribocho as insurance!" Said Naruto.

"Whatever!" Said Zabuza disrespectfully.

"Good, just hold on a minute aniki, we'll leave soon enough." Said the blonde apologetically.

"No problem, just make it quick." Said Juugo.

****

**Tazuna's Bridge...**

"What the...what's going on here?" Asked Suigetsu with his jaw hanging on the ground.

"It..it looks like the whole village has gathered at the bridge for celebrations. Also, I think they are waiting for someone, I can read their lips from here, they're waiting for Tazuna san and Naruto san...N-Naruto san is the hero of Wave Country, t-that's what they're saying!" Said Ranmaru, his eyes slightly widening in surprise.

"What!" Shouted Guren a little too loudly, causing the blonde to start sweating nervously.

"Is there something you'd like to tell us Naruto?" Asked Juugo.

"You fool! You know you're not supposed to bring attention to yourself and still you go and make yourself the fucken HERO of a nation, what if Konoha find out about you! How could you be so reckless!" Shouted Guren furiously. Naruto was glad she had _baggage _to carry on her back in the form of Ranmaru, otherwise he had no doubt in his mind that she would have tried to kill him for _endangering _Oto and by extension, Orochimaru sama.

"Calm yourself down Guren, I'm sure Naruto has a good explanation for this, right Naruto?" Asked Juugo with a serious tone, fully aware of the possible repurcussions his brother's actions could have for Oto and the blonde himself.

'_Sigh, why can't she accept that she has feelings for Naruto! She's clearly worried about him but she reacts with violent threats to make it seem like she is only concerned about Oto and Orochimaru sama! She doesn't understamd her conflicting feelings and because of that lashes out at the source of the problem as an attempt to fight against her them. Not that I blame her though, violence is the only language she knows because of the way she grew up, every achievement she's ever attained for herself has been earned through fighting, that is how Orochimaru sama raised her. But I'm sure that if any one can help her, it will be Naruto otouto, I really hope they have that talk that he promised her.' _Thought Juugo.

"Um...yeah sure I do..ehehehe!" Replied the blonde sheepishly.

"N-Narut-kun...everything's going to be okay right? You have a plan don't you?" Asked Yakumo with a worried tone and expression, trying to contain the tears from leaving her eyes. Naruto, not liking the look on his precious Yakumo-chan, adopted a serious expression too.

_'Kuso! I didn't want to worry Yakumo-chan!' _Thought Naruto, angry at himself for causing even the slightest heartache to the exotic genjutsu mistress.

_**"Don't be foolish! Its only natural for people who care about each other to worry!" **_Said the the nine-tailed fox.

_"K-Kaa chan?"_ Asked the blonde mentally.

_**"No its the rikuudo sennin hey...!" **_Replied the demoness bitterly.

_"Why are you so grumpy, did I do something wrong, kaa chan?" _Asked Naruto, making the demoness sigh in frustration at both the blonde and herself.

**"I'm sorry sochi kun, its just that I don't want you to blame yourself for everything. I understand that I was the one that taught you to be responsible but that doesn't mean you have to blame every little thing on yourself and you shouldn't stress about things that are innevitable. People who care about you will always worry about you just like you worry about them, okay...sochi kun?" **Said Kyubi, giving the blonde a mental hug.

"_Hai Kaa chan!" _Said the blonde, mentally sighing happily in his mother's embrace.

_**'I love you Naruto kun, don't forget that, and I'll always worry about you, so will Yakumo-chan,you can't change that." **_Said the furry demoness.

_"I know, I love you too kaa-chan." _Replied Naruto, causing Kyubi to sigh happily.

"Naruto, hey Naruto! Hey! What the hell is wrong with you!" Shouted Suigetsu, disrupting the mother/son quality time.

"What!" Said Naruto a little too loudly.

"You spaced out, were you talking to your kaa chan?" Asked Juugo.

"Yeah, sorry about that." Apologised the blonde.

"Kaa chan? Your mother is your bijuu?" Asked Ranmaru.

"H-how did you know about that? I don't recall anyone telling you about Naruto kun's jinchuuriki status?" Asked Yakumo with eyes narrowed in suspicion.

"I saw it with my eyes, his chakra system is similar to that of the Mizukage's, plus, normal humans don't have that much chakra." Said Ranmaru.

_'A doujutsu that can see even the chakra system, then, does that mean he has telescopic vision like the hyuga clan? ' _Thought the blonde analytically.

**'**_**How interesting, its almost like Kami herself is on your side, you might just have found yourself an heir to the Hyuga Forbidden Scroll that you have in your possession. Lucky you, now you won't have to follow through with my idea to abduct an infant from the Hyuga branch family before they place a caged bird seal on them.' **_Said the fox demoness.

_'Yeah, hopefully I won't have to follow up with that plan anymore.' _Thought Naruto. The blonde knew it wasn't a given that the 5 year old would be able to learn those jutsu but it was entirely possible that he could, the information he had currently certainly seemed to point him towards that line of thought.

He knew from his shadow clone that was helping Yakumo to fend off Raiga and the demon brothers that the boy had near three sixty degree vision, and he knew the boy could, like the members of the Hyuga clan perceive chakra and he knew the boy was good with illusions. He now also knew that the boy had telescopic vision, able to see things from long distances and able to see through objects, the fact that the boy was able to observed his chakra system was more then enough proof. But even all of that was not enough to confirm whether the boy could learn those techniques or not.

The Hyuga clan had special bodies with special chakra systems that enable them to attain perfect chakra control and to be able to manipulate chakra at a level no knowm human is capable of, this in turn gave birth to their **jyuuken** **techniques**, namely, the Hyuga clan didn't just have an eye based bloodline limit, they had a dual kekei genkei, an eye based and a body type bloodline limit. The blonde was fully aware that they would have to conduct tests to see if the boy also had this body type special ability, or if worse comes to worst, conduct experiments on him that could potentially give him this abilty, off course with boy and Raiga's permission.

The blonde wasn't too worried though, he was eighty percent sure that the tests would yield a positive result.

"I know what you're thinking Naruto, but that will have to wait for later, let us focus on the task at hand for now. Please explain the situation to us." Said Juugo thoughtfully.

"Naru kun..."

"Don't worry so much about me Yakumo-chan...everything will be okay, I have a plan." Said the blonde, cupping the exotic beauty's face lovingly.

"O-okay." Said Yakumo, smiling happily with a cute blush on her cheeks.

"While we're still alive brat!" Said Zabuza irritably, now carrying the boy Haku on his shoulder, having gotten fed up with Suigetsu's persistent complaints about the wait making him thirsty, even though Zabuza knew it was a lie, the water boy carried a sword twice his size around everyday, there was no way Haku's weight could have affected him that much.

"Yeah um...you see my clones kind of assassinated Gato and his thugs and um...how do I explain this...well, the bridgebuilder's grandson was kinda inspired by my ...er...my clone's actions and he inturn inspired the rest of the town and um...you see..." Sputtered the blonde, struggling to put into words the information he had received from one of the two clones that had dispelled itself not so long ago.

"Argh! Just spill it out already! Stop trying to create unneccessary suspense!" Said Guren impatiently, resisting the urge to pull on her hair in frustration.

"I think I understand, you made the people realise that they had to fight for themselves in order to gain their freedom, otherwise the process would just repeat itself all over again if someone else like Gato came around. That's why they recognise you as their hero, is that right?" Asked Juugo.

"Yeah! That's what I was trying to say!" Exlaimed Naruto in relief, glad that Juugo, as usual, was able to read him so well, he wasn't really that good at explaining himself, especially when Guren was around, she always seemed to find a way to make him look stupid somehow.

"I see, I won't lie to you Naruto, this is really bad...well, its good for the people of this country, but its bad for you and for us, but I understand why you did it, I think I would have done the same if I could." Said Juugo wisely.

"Thanks bro! And uh...I'm sorry I messed up your mission aniki." Said the blonde.

"No don't worry about it, I may be leader but this is just as much my mission as it is anybody who participated. In any case, we'll just have to do damage control that's all. We'll discuss our plans for that later on, and I want your input especially, I know you well enough to know that you're not that reckless, in fact, you're not reckless at all! You obviously have some kind of plan cooked up for this." Said Juugo with a meaningfull look.

"Uh...yeah ehehehe! I guess you caught me there." Replied the blonde, scratching the back of his head sheepishly.

"N-Naruto kun! Is that you, is it the real you this time?" Shouted a voice from behind the blonde and a considerable distance in front of the group of shinobi, who were facing the blonde and Yakumo. Naruto snapped his head around to stare at the source of the voice, knowing that he recognised that voice from somewhere. And right he was, for standing only 15 metres away from the them was the natural beauty that was the 22 year old woman he recognised as the 5 year old Inari's mother and Tazuna san's daughter. She has beautiful, silky black hair that reaches her shoulders with a blue-ish tint to them and dark eyes full of love and passion. Her beautiful, heart shaped face is eccentuated by her creamy skin and her full lips and she is dark pink, short sleeved top that is not tight but at the same time not too lose, nevertheless one doesn't have to look to heart to notice her DD cup breats and has a white apron over the top. She has a long navy skirt on that although relatively loose still hugs and eccentuates her wide hips with black sandals on her feet. The outfit is just what a regualr housewife would wear in doors but her natural beauty makes it look like somthing else entirely.

"Tsu-Tsunami san! Y-yeah its me, is something the matter?" Asked Naruto. Tsunami immediately turned around upon receiving confirmation and shouted across the clearing to the direction of the people on the bridge.

"Inari chan! I found him! I found Naruto kun!" Shouted Tsunami happily before running over to the blonde at a speed that showed that she hadn't slacked off on her physical conditioning despite giving birth to a child. Tsunami ran straight for the blonde Uzumaki and smothered him on her chest area in a tight hug, almost as if she were a mother who had just been reunited with her long lost child, or a woman reunited with her long lost love.

"Oh Naruto kun thank you thank you so much! I was so worried when you didn't show up, your clones said that you would arrive in a few minutes but it felt like so long we were so worried!" Babbled Tsunami, kissing the blonde all over his head and face over and over affectionately.

"Ehehe sorry for worrying so much Tsunami-san, I'll try not to do it again." Relied the blonde, blushing furiously in the womans soft and kind embrace.

"No no don't apologise Naruto kun, I'm just so happy and grateful, you saved me and Inari-chan and you helped my son get over his depression, you even inspired our people and brought back the hope that the people had lost. I-I'm just glad that you came into our lives!" Said Tsunami, cupping the blonde's cheeks affectionately, unable to help but to continue to kiss the, in her opinion cute whisker faced blonde all over the face, something that infuriated Yakumo for some reason she couldn't explain and surprisingly, Guren too.

"There he is! There's our hero!" Shouted the Inari, off course it wasn't just Inari that had heard ravern haired woman's calls, the whole crowd heard her say the name of their hero and they would not be denied a chance to celebrate their hero. The group of Oto shinobi and their recruits could only sweat drop when the mob, lead by the bridge builder's grandson stampeded towards them from the bridge to the mainland. It is needless to say that the civillians and the shinobi alike partied until late in the night, nothing could dampen their spirits now, having finally freed themselves and with their hero in town. Everyone, even the stiffies like Guren and Zabuza would later admit that they actually needed some fun once in a while, though not outwardly off course, they would only admit it to themselves.

**Two Weeks Later: Unspecified Location...**

_'Kukuku...I never imagined such an opportunity would present its self so soon, a sharingan falling right on my lap like this, its almost too good to be true, an opportunity than I cannot in my right mind ignore.' _Thought Orochimaru, looking at the 16 year old in front of him with lust in his eyes, his long tongue hanging out of his eyes in anticipation.

'_To give me your back so casually, you're too trusting, especially for someone who betrayed his own kin.' _Thought Orochimaru, transforming his arm into a dark brown serpent before launching it at the rogue Uchiha with incredible speed, binding the Uchiha's arms against his body tightly, using the incredible strength of the snake's constricting body to make any chance of escape impossible.

"Kukuku! Please forgive my rudeness Shishui-kun, but that body and those eyes belong to me now. I'm going to take over your body and those precious eyes will make my dreams come to reality, be grateful, for you will from now on become a part of the greatness that I will become kukuku!" Laughed Orochimaru, preparing his chakra to begin his **living corpse reincarnation.**

"Whose body and whose eyes belong to you?" Asked calm sounding voice from a small distance behind Orochimaru, causing the snake sannin's eyes to widen in surprise.

_'Impossible! That voice, it couldn't be that I...' _Thought Orochimaru, turning his head around to stare at the boy, no, young man of the Uchiha clan from over his shoulder.

"There's no one there Orochimaru san, take look for yourself?" Said Shishui simply.

Orochimaru, not wanting to believe what was in front of him turned his eyes to the back to the front only to see nothing in front of him where he had thought to have successfully captured the Uchiha prodigy.

"You could hurt yourself if you carry on like this, I'm not sure how much control you have over those snakes of yours, perhaps you've been overworking yourself too much, age does have that effect on a person sometimes." Said Shishui neutrally, not a second too soon after Shishui spoke, Orochimaru noticed all of a sudden that he couldn't move his arms, almost as if something was constricting his arms, only to realise that the snake he thought he had used to bind his opponent was the one constricting his own body.

_'A genjutsu...? So he didn't let his guard down after all! Capturing him will be a lot more difficult now, but at least there is no one around to interfere.' _Thought Orochimaru in anticipation, the snake untangling itself around him and retreating back into his sleeves and transforming back into his arm. Orochimaru turned around to face the Uchiha prodigy with an excited smirk on his face, licking his lips with his abnormally long tongue.

"Kukuku! So you didn't let your guard down after all, you put me into your genjutsu and then used a combination of your legendary mastery of the substitution and body flicker technique to displace yourself to a safe location on my blind spot, not too far away so that you can time and execute your attacks successfully but not to close either so that you can anticipate my attacks and use your genjutsu successfully. Impressive, you've advanced at an incredible rate in such a short time, but the real battle begins now kukuku!" Said Orochimaru, laughing like a mad man, something he was considered to be by most people who knew him.

"I see, even your intelligence is overated after all." Said Shishui calmly, his hair and Akatsuki cloak belowing from side to side from the breeze.

"Nani..?" Asked Orochimaru with narrowed eyes.

"You really don't know do you? Orochimaru, I was never walking in front of you from the beginning, I've been walking right behind you, in line with your blind spot since we left the base. You were under my spell even before we left the base. This is the power of my **Sakanade**, a genjutsu that creates an inverted world. In this world, everything is the opposite of what it is supposed to be, right becomes left, up becomes down, and front becomes back. You get it now right? The Uchiha Shishui you thought was walking in front of you all this time was actually walking behind you, did you really think that I would let my guard down to a poisonous snake like you, Orochimaru?" Asked Shishui rhetorically.

"Krrrk...just who do you think it is you're speaking to cursed child! Know your place!" Shouted Orochimaru, gritting his teeth in anger, molding hand seals for a jutsu only, to his immense surprise to be impaled through his body by giant spikes right through his limbs, taking away his body's movement.

**"Demonic Ilusion: Shackling Stakes Technique!" **Whispered Shishui.

_'S-subarashi! He is able to completely stop my movements and induce a sensation of pysical pain to me using a torture type paralysis genjutsu! All this was done in an instant with the use of minimal chakra and without any hand seals! Those eyes, the power of those eyes...will be mine!' _Thought Orochimaru, trying to resist the jutsu with all his strength, forcing his hands together in order to mold hand seals only for his for left hand, which bares his Akatsuki ring on his pinky finger to be sliced through by a red hot chakra sword that was more then five metres long.

"Ite! C-curse you scum! How dare you!" Screamed Orochimaru, clasping his severed arm in his right hand with a firm grip, the pain in his arm causing the genjutsu he was being influenced by to dispel.

_'This chakra? What kind of chakra is this, such a high level of shape manipulation combined with nature manipulation...I've never heard of anything like this? The heat was even able to incinerate my wound and stop the bleeding, just what the hell is this!' _Thought Orochimaru, grinding his teeth together in pain and frustration.

"Orochimaru, before these eyes of mine, all jutsu are rendered useless! Don't underestimate the power of the Uchiha!" Said Shishui, still baring no emotions on his face.

_'I will surely die if I carry on fighting in my current condition! Kuso! What the hell have I been doing all these years! What is the meaning of being hailed as a genius if an infant like this, who has not lived even half the life I've lead, has not experienced or seen half the things I've seen, and hasn't attained even a quarter of the knowledge I've attained, can so casually shrug my attacks and defeat me! What the hell is the point for the rest of us, if people can cheat all the effort we have put in because of a simple difference in genetic composition!'_ Thought Orochimaru on the verge of tears.

"Surrender yourself Orochimaru, there is still a chance for redemption even for you, all you have to do is to repent for your sins." Said Shishui coldly, even though the hateful snarl on the sannin's face told him otherwise.

"Never!" Screeched Orochimaru furiously.

"Never, I will never bow down to a mere infant! I will never bow down to anyone! I am the one that will attain all the power in this world, I am the one that will gain immortality, I am the one that will uncover the secrets of the ninshu! Everything will be mine! **Multiple Striking Shadow Snake Hands!"** Shouted Orochimaru, transforming his right hand into 100 hundred giant snakes before launching them at the uchiha prodigy, the snakes flying towards the uchiha with their venomous teeth bared in a biting motion at blinding speeds.

"I thought I told you already, don't underestimate the power of the Uchiha! **Shunshin No Jutsu!**" Shouted Shishui, slightly losing his mask of impassiveness. In the blink of an eye. Shishui reduced the size of his **fire style sabre **to the length of an average kitana and then with the aid of his super fast **shunshin no jutsu **went on to slice through all one hundred snakes one by one in just a matter of seconds, a result that completely flabbergasted the snake sannin, who could only stare in fear and shock at the result, not able to belive that one of his techniques was once again shrugged off without much effort.

"Sh-shunshin no Shishui...!" Sputtered Orochimaru fearfully. He'd off course heard about the boy's mastery of the shunshin no jutsu, it was documented all over the bingo books, but he'd never thought it could have been something like this. Not that the extent of the jutsu wasn't properly emphasized in the bingo books, because it was. But things tended to be exaggerated in these books, after all, the people who assembled them were only human. But, being at the receiving end of the jutsu first hand, Orochimaru couldn't help but wonder if the effect of this jutsu wasn't in fact understated in the bingo books.

"That is the name on my bingo book entry, that means that you actually did some research before you tried to attack me, but that won't save you from me, Akatsuki does not tolerate traitors, I'm going to kill you now. I won't give you another chance to change your mind." Said Shishui, giving the sannin one of the Uchiha clan's patent sharingan stares that made so many opponents feel so much inferioty to them. Unfortunately this had the opposite effect to the sannin, whose fear all of a sudden transformed into an uncontrollable rage.

"You...you and those wonderful eyes! I don't care what powers those eyes have blessed you with! I refuse to lose to you! Let us see how your shunshin protects you from this!" Screamed Orchimaru

"**Formation of Ten Thousand Snakes!**" Shouted Orochimaru, launching an overwhelming ten thousand snakes from his mouth with incredible speed, all the snakes baring kusanagi like swords from their mouths. Shishui, realising that even with his shunshin he wouldn't be fast enough to dispose of all the snakes blazed through many hand seals with unreadable speeds, at least not without a doujutsu or being equally as fast with hand seals.

_'Judging by the height and width of this jutsu, its clear that this is meant to counter my teleportation speed. The snakes are too many for me to cut down individually and the jutsu is too wide for me to flicker around and too high for me to jump over. A very good and effective plan, demo...' _Thought Shishui.

"**Fire Release: Great Fire Majestic Annihilation! **Shouted Shishui after gathering a substantial amount of chakra and air inside his throat, Shishui then expelled a massive wall of flames that covered an expansive range to counter the snake sannin's deadly wall of snakes, the fire wall was so high and so wide that it incinerated all ten thousand snakes, schorching the ground and burning so strongly that the flames reached the snake sannin himself.

"Masaka! A fire release jutsu of this level! Aaaargh!" Screamed Orochimaru in agony, his body ignited by the incinerating flames of the no doubt S rank fire jutsu. Silence followed shortly afterwards, with nothing but the sound and smell of flesh burning to be heard and inhaled respectfully.

'_Something isn't right here, is this a genjutsu...no, not possible, I would have at least seen it with my eyes. But then what...he couldn't have died so quickly, is he trying to bait me?' _Thought Shishui, narrowing his eyes at the direction that the snake sannin should be, waiting patiently for the smoke and chakra that was saturating the atmosphere from his jutsu to clear. Shishui didn't have to wait to long before the atmosphere cleared up, giving him a perfect view of the sannin's corpse.

_'I can see his chakra residue, but is it really his corpse? I will have to conduct a test first, I won't fall for your tricks that easily Orochimaru.' _Thought Shishui, creating a fire natured chakra sword that extended rapidly, piercing the sannin's corpse in the head, only for the corpse. For a second it looked like nothing would happen but then not too soon afterwards the corpse dissolved...more like deflated into a what looked from a distance like a human pancake. Shishui walked over to corpse at a slow pace, making sure to keep still fully alert of any strange movements. Needless to say that Shishui was surprised when he reached the corpse of the snake sannin, seeing something that he hadn't but should have expected, given the elder shinobi's status as the 'snake' sannin.

'_This is...his skin?' _Thought Shishui in surprise, the shock replacing the look of impassiveness and replacing it with a slightly agape mouth and slightly widened eyes.

'_I see, he shed his skin in order to escape my fire technique and used his earth release to escape under the ground. He's probably miles away now. I won't be able to catch him even with my shunshin no jutsu, tracking down his chakra trail will slow me down too much, how sly and cunning, he lives up to his namesake after all.' _Thought Shishui, turning around to walk away back towards the direction the duo had come from.

'_Leader won't be happy about this, that fool even took the hand that has his ring with him, but I suspect that Sasori will be even more unhappy. Nevertheless I have to report back to Leader...Orochimaru, next time I'll end it quickly, I won't allow you to escape again.' _Thought Shishui irritably, not liking the taste of failure on his tongue.

**END CHAPTER**

**Let me first and foremost admit that this wasn't the best of chapters, had a serious case of...I'd like to say writers block but that wouldn't really make sense, since I've already planned this story to the end, so it must have been a case of laziness or something. But I was able to force myself through it. I was free this week so I had to do it because I'm going to be busy again for a while. **

**Anyway this wasn't nearly as long as I thought it would be, but then again, I'm not quite done with the wave arc, the next chapter will be the wave arc still with some touch ups on what Oro is up to after his loss as well.**

**Some of you must be fed up with all the battles, I think every chapter, with the exception of chapter one has had a battle in it, I apologise for that, but those battles were neccessary for the story development. Good news (bad to some probably) is that the next chapter will contain no battles, it will be pure story and character development, but off course interesting things will happen. There will be fluff too and drama.**

**I kinda felt like I was copying canon too much with the Shishui/Oro battle, it was too similar to the Itachi/Orochimaru encounter in canon I think, I'll try to avoid that in the future.**

**Anyway you might have noticed, this story contains major character development of other characters that are not naruto or yakumo, this is because I'm trying to show the impact that our favorite couple's decision to leave Konoha has had on Oto and the residents of Oto, but I've tried not to stray from the main character, this fic is about Naruto and he is the protagonist so I will always develop him more then anyone else, and Yakumo followed by his harem will come in second.**

**Made some changes in Akatsuki, for those who don't know, Hiruko is the antagonist in the Naruto Movie 4 I think (don't remember the titles of the movies) and Furido is the main Antagonist in the filler arc that happens during Naruto's Fuuton Rasenshuriken training and before the Naruto vs Kakuzo arc. **

**Shishui - alright yea, I gave him Madara's jutsu, what do you guys think about that? Is it cool or do yaw Madara fans hate me for it, lol?**

**I think it makes sense though, I mean Madara's jutsu will obviously be in some secret scroll in the uchiha compound, like maybe the place that Itachi told sasuke to go to in canon.**

**Anyway as usual I will be fixing up the grama, vocab, and spelling within the next two days, yaw keep it real and don't forget to tell me what yaw think, peace.**


	9. Chapter 9

**DISCLAIMER: **I do not own the Naruto series or any other movie/series that I might use as inspiration.

**Response To RaitonJutsu's Reviews:**

_**Chapter 2:**_

Yes, the clone's memories have been sealed so it has no knowledge about the real Naruto or anything that he knows, so it would most likely act like cannon Naruto. Glad that you liked the Samehada DNA implants too, and as for the filler girls, well, I like them a lot and couldn't fight that many stories with them being with Naruto without joining Konoha, so I just thought that I should write one myself. Thanks for the review.

_**Chapter 4:**_

Well, none of the Uchiha family will be protagonists in this fic, but trust that they are very much involved in the story and Shishui joining the Akatsuki is only one of the twists that you will witness in this fic, I'm sure you will be pleasantly surprised. It was stated in the early chapters of the manga that the Hyuga were a rival clan of the Uchiha and that their doujutsu was equal to the Uchiha and superior in terms of visual prowess, but I never felt that Kishi justified that in canon, Hiashi was the perfect candidate to use for that and I tried to deploy that through Itachi's counter plotting and scheming against the enemy (Higher ups and Shishui/Tobi)

Don't worry about Suzumebachi, I have GREAT plans for her.

_**Chapter 5:**_

The full potential of Karin's kekkei genkei will be revealed in the invasion arc in a battle against…don't try to guess who, I don't think anyone can predict what I have planned for her, but it will be great, you'll see.

_**Chapter 6:**_

Thanks again for such an encouraging review, glad you like the story so far, trust me, there is a lot more to what Yakumo can do in battle then that, but I guess you will have to wait until the invasion arc.

_**Chapter 8:**_

Yeah there'll be more of Suzumebachi soon, don't worry about that, as for Konan, na she won't be a pairing for Naruto in this one, but she will be a major antagonist. Oro just barely survived, you can be sure he aint gonna be happy about that. Thanks for the wonderful reviews yo, appreciated! And I apologise for taking so long to respond.

**CHAPTER 9**

_**Nano Destruction Bug Jutsu**_

_**Otogakure Main Base: South East Quadrant…..**_

'_That tomato head better be done with those stupid check ups! It is about time that I became one with my precious babies!' _Thought Kamizuru Suzumebachi, a beautiful 12 year old kunoichi with short brown hair, a large forehead, and brown eyes. She has a heart shaped face with one hair bang cutting through the middle of her forehead and is wearing a black outfit with open shoulders, with her weapons pouch attached to her back by a belt-like sash.

'_Naruto-kun will return from his mission in exactly four days, by then, I should be close to fully mastering my __**Nano Bug Ninjutsu**__, when he sees how strong I have become, he'll have no choice but to let me help him rebuild the Uzumaki clan!' _Thought Suzumebachi with giddy anticipation, unable to help but to let out a small chuckle to herself.

She couldn't help it, she was really happy that she had finally completed her newest jutsu, it had taken a whole year of research, study, experimentation, and training just to get to where she was at this point, she even had to swallow her pride and ask Karin-chan to help her complete and test her jutsu, her being more into the scientific field and all. If the assimilation with the nano bugs were to go smoothly, she could possibly become the strongest ninja in Otogakure no sato, possibly. Reaching the door to her lab, yes, her own lab made specifically for her bug experimentation, Suzumebachi channelled her chakra into the seal on the middle right side of the heavy steel door, causing the door to shift to the left, allowing her entrance into the lab, only to find Karin standing near a giant glass cylinder full of a blue substance that looks like mobile and living green coloured chakra, with her hands behind her back and a big smile on her face.

"Hey tomato head…"

"Stop calling me that!" shouted Karin indignantly, cutting off Suzumebachi before she could even finish speaking, a furious blush spreading rapidly across her face, more from anger than embarrassment.

"Right, whatever makes you happy tomato head! Just give me my babies already, I've been waiting a whole year for this, I'm not waiting any longer!" Replied the last living member of the Kamizuru clan nonchalantly.

"Stop calling me tomato head you bitch!" Shouted Karin angrily. A year ago, she wouldn't have dared talked to the Kamizuru heiress with such blatant disrespect, the girl was completely insane if you asked anyone in Oto, more importantly, she was very quick to resort to violence to solve her conflicts, usually resulting in either the death of the other party, or he/she wishing that they were indeed dead. But they had gotten closer over the last nine months, having spent most of their time together in an effort to complete the nano bug experiment. Still, Karin did not want to push her luck to far, she still wasn't certain why Suzumebachi was lenient to her, was it because they were now friends, or was she only still alive because she was still needed? In which case, what would happen now that the experiment was complete? These were the questions running through the eight year old kunoichi's mind.

'_Damnit, I should try to control my motor-mouth around her, at least until I have mastered my kekkei genkei.' _Thought Karin nervously.

"Hmmm…you've certainly grown yourself a big sack of balls since the first time I met you, I'm impressed! But there are things that are more important than giving you an ass whooping at the moment, like for example, my reunion with my precious babies." Said Suzumebachi impatiently. Karin, catching the hint, went into her scientific mode, adopting a rare serious expression.

"Okay, first and foremost, the nano bugs are in good physical health and are now at an amazing 97 percent compatible with your chakra." Explained Karin, taking a deep breathe during her pause in speech, causing Suzumebachi to frown in concern.

"But….?" Asked Suzumebachi.

"No buts, at least, no buts in a negative light. As you may be aware, Kabuto-Sensei and I have been working on our own project that was mandated by Orochimaru-sama himself, the cursed seal…" trailed off Karin.

"Yes, I am aware of that, what does this have to do with our work though, more importantly, what does it have to do with my babies?" asked Suzumebachi with narrowed eyes, giving Karin a penetrating stare,.

"Do not be alarmed, nothing has gone wrong, what I did was for your sake and will make you stronger in the long run. You already know that the nano destruction bugs have a high adaptability, even to normally fatal conditions. I simply selected a few batches and had them feed the cursed seal subjects' flesh and chakra_. _Out of eight batches consisting of a hundred thousand nano bugs each, only one nano bug that belonged to the sixth batch was able to ingest the chakra without going insane or dying." Explained Karin, stopping shortly to give her older friend a chance to digest the information.

"Carry on…I'm listening." Ordered Suzumebachi.

"Yes, you see, if you remember, there was a time when we tried to teach the nano bugs how to turn their chakra into medical chakra, and that time, there was only one bug that was able to accomplish this. The bug that was able to convert its chakra into medical chakra is one and the same as the bug that was able to survive the cursed seal mutation experiment." Said Karin.

"Okay okay wait a minute! I understand that perfectly well, but what good does this serve? An army of nano bugs living inside me and healing my injuries is all well and good, but what good does the cursed seal do for me?" asked Suzumebachi with a confused expression.

"It means that your nano bugs will now have accelerated healing, which will be passed on to you, it also means that each and every bug, out of the plus twenty billion that will be living inside you will have a 70 percent increase in chakra capacity and chakra eating capacity, and it also means that your nano bugs, in other words, you, will also be able to detect or sense nature chakra and even absorb it from opponents without suffering from the side effects." Explained Karin with a big smile on her face, one that looked more like an arrogant smirk to Suzumebachi, whose eyes were wide in surprise. To say Suzumebachi was excited would be a great understatement, she, like Kabuto, Orochimaru, Naruto, and Karin was a scientific shinobi as well, and could therefore fully understand the weight of Karin's words.

Her nano bugs had a telepathic connection to her, meaning that she could make them do anything with just a thought, or even subconsciously, basically, they were an extension of her mind. If she happens to get injured in battle, the nano bigs inside of her body will automatically use their/her chakra to heal her injuries instantly. Furthermore, she was one of the few Oto ninja that knew the true nature of Jugo's curse mode, that it was actually a type of sage mode, in other words, the conscious and subconsious gathering and manipulation of nature chakra. Karin, using that one bug that was able to adapt to the nature chakra, was basically able to create a colony of nano bugs that would be able to sense nature chakra and be able to absorb it from opponents in order to increase her own chakra reserves during battle. This was far more then she had ever anticipated.

"Well, if the creepy grin you have on your face is anything to go by, I'd say that you seem to be quite pleased about the modifications I made to the nano bugs, but I believe that I have only touched the surface of what you will be able to do with this new secret jutsu, The only thing that's left now is for you to physically practise and experiment with it. Are you ready, Suzumebachi-senpei?" asked Karin excitedly.

"Yeah, give it to me baby!" shouted Suzumebachi, pumping her fist into the air in excitement.

"_That really didn't sound right.' _Though Karin, supressing a shiver that threatened to run through her spine as she flared her chakra with a specific frequency, causing the bottom of the giant glass cylinder to open completely, allowing the microscopic bugs to rapidly fly out of the cylinder in a swam of green, heading straight for their _Queen, _with whom they had been waiting so eagerly to be reunited with.

Usually, destruction bugs eat out their host's body in order to create passageways/holes with which to travel in and out of their host, but this was not necessary in this situation, the nano bugs were small enough that they could simply travel through their _Queen's _sweat pores and tenketsu in order to invade her body and chakra network. It took only one minute for all twenty eight billion nano bugs to enter her system and only another two minutes to successfully acquaint themselves with her nervous system, her chakra network and her organs.

"Hahahahaha! Mwahahahahahaha! Ahahahahaha!" Laughed Suzumebachi maniacally, her head thrown back with her eyes facing the ceiling of the average sized laboratory.

"Um….are you okay…S-Suzume-Senpei?" asked Karin nervously, the last thing she needed or wanted now was for her friend to go crazy on her, especially with her newest jutsu at her disposal.

"Oh I'm more then okay tomato-chan, okay is nothing compared to what I'm feeling right now, I feel like I could take on the whole world and win, I feel like I could spam earth jutsu for weeks and still not suffer from chakra exhaustion, I feel like I can do absolutely everything!" shouted Suzumebachi hysterically.

"I-I see…I-I have prepared a special exam to test your new powers, if you could please go to the C-point training grounds, I will be there shortly to present to you your opponents." Suggested Karin as politely as possible, with the aim of directing Suzumebachi's attention away from herself. While she had improved in leaps and bounds over the past two weaks with regards to mastering her Kekei Genkei, she was aware that she was still FAR from mastering it and would not be able to serve as a good sparring partner for Suzumebachi…yet!

"Huh…what kind of test, and who is my opponent?" asked Suzumebachi with her head cocked to the side curiously.

"You know, if this opponent isn't strong enough to fight me, you'll be the only one left that I can test my new powers against, who knows, I might be able to help you master your new jutsu that you have been working on. I always say that there is no better way to improve then fighting against a powerful opponent." Said Suzumebachi with a sadistic smirk.

"Don't worry Senpei, your opponent will be strong enough, and if it isn't, than we can spar together, I really do need to gain control of my bloodline limit." Responded Karin, off course lying through her teeth. She had no intention of sparring with an overpowered and crazy Suzumebachi. What Suzumebachi didn't know was the fact that Karin had over one hundred failed cursed seal experimental subjects at her disposal and she planned to use every one of them if that is what it took to avoid a sparring match with Suzumebachi. She had no intention of dying during a training session, if she died it would be during a mission or in order to protect her loved ones.

"Alright, I'll go, don't make me wait too long though, or else….I'll come looking for you!" Replied Suzumebachi with a mad gleam in her eyes and what Karin considered one of the most evil grins she had seen in her life, surpassed only by Orochimaru-sama, Kabuto-Sensei, and Naruto-kun.

'_But than Naruto-kun's is more cute then evil looking' _Thought Karin with a cute blush on her facial features, watching Suzumebachi leave the lab with a small sigh of relief.

**0000000000000000000000000000 000**

The C-Point training ground is one of the few in Otogakure that are not situated in an underground base but actually situated on the surface. It is situated near the mountains and is particularly used by earth release ninjutsu users and generally people who are capable of mass destruction, people like Jugo and Naruto for example. The battle ground is barren with not much for plant or even animal life and is surrounded by giant boulders, hills, and even mountains. Situated at the middle of the battleground is one Kamizuru Suzumebachi, waiting patiently for her opponent and at the edge of the training ground is Karin, the supposed opponent of Suzumebachi nowhere in sight.

"So where is this training dummy that you promised me, or is it that you have decided to become my sparring partner? Does that mean what I think it means…?" asked the 12 year old Kamizuru heiress curiously, an arrogant smirk plastered on her tomboyish but cute facial features.

"No. I haven't completed that jutsu yet, nor am I ready to use it in battle, but I do have your opponent with me." Said Karin cryptically.

"Nonsense! In case you've forgotten, thanks to my telepathic connection to the nano bugs,I have also become a sensor type shinobi, , so I know for a fact, that there is no one around within a five mile radius apart from the two of us, if there was, I would have sensed their chakra." Said Siuzumebachi impatiently.

"Like I said, I have your opponents right here…!" shouted Karin, biting her thumb enough so that she drew blood before going through a quick set of hand seals.

"Did you just say…opponents…?" Asked Suzumebachi with slightly widened eyes, watching Karin go through a set of very familiar hand seals which she immediately recognised, being a summoner herself off course.

"**Kuchiyose No Jutsu!" **Shouted Karin, slamming her right hand into the ground, creating a VERY large cloud of smoke.

'_When did she get a summoning contract…? But more importantly, judging by the sound of that cloud and the sheer amount of chakra she used, whatever she has summoned is probably even bigger than my Queen Bee summon!' _Thought the Kamizuru Heiress.

'_No wait a minute, the chakra inside that cloud of smoke, there is more than one chakra signature inside there and the chakra feels familiar…No Way!' _Thought Suzumebachi in surprise, eyes widened in shock. As if reading her mind, the cloud of smoke promptly disappeared, leaving Suzumebachi to witness her opponent, which looked like a VERY big steel container made up of 200 cells/cages, of which 98 were occupied by creatures that Suzumebachi easily recognised.

'_Those are….'_

"Failed cursed seal subjects who have lost their minds to the evil chakra and have hence, become mindless beasts with nothing but killing instincts to stimulate their minds. This, Suzume-Senpei….will serve as the ultimate test of your new powers and off course, will determine whether there is truth behind your self-proclaimed status as the strongest kunoichi in Oto." Said Karin with a sadistic smirk, pushing her right index finger against the rim of her glasses to properly position them in their rightful place.

'_She…is this really Tomato Head-chan? It almost feels like I'm talking to Kabuto, I guess he's been teacher her more than just medical ninjutsu and science, or maybe he just rubbed off on her!'_ Thought Suzumebachi, a bead of sweat rolling down the side of her face.

"Heh….you really have grown yourself a pair of balls haven't you Karin-chan, but have you really thought this out carefully? What guarantee do you have that those cute little monsters of yours won't attack you just as well as they will attack me?" Shot back the Kamizuru Heiress.

" Heh…?" mused Karin with her head cocked to the side slightly, a mocking yet curious expression on her face.

"I was certain that your senses would have been heightened since the nano bug assimilation, but it seems to me that the opposite has taken effect, I mean surely you must have realised by now…."Trailed off Karin mockingly.

"What do you…mean…" trailed off Suzumebachi in shock. It was in that instance that she noticed the many particulars that she perhaps should have noticed from the start. For one, the cursed seal rejects were uncharacteristically calm and docile, usually, they would be growling, howling, screaming and violently thrashing against their cages in a hopeless bid to escape their cages and rip something into pieces. But….

"_They are just waiting patiently, almost as if at attention, as if waiting for some type of command from a senior officer, but why…and how?" _Thought Suzumebachi looking at Karin to give her the answers to her many question, but then Karin wouldn't need to give her the answers, because as Suzumebachi had just found out, Karin is in fact the answer. The Kamizuru Heiress saw that her friend had her left hand folded into a one handed ram seal, not to mention the barely visible blue glow of chakra surrounding her body. Seeing this, the Kamizuru heiress did the only logical thing, which was to use her new chakra sensing abilities to try and determine what the little red head was doing.

'_I…I can't believe it! She's using some kind of chakra frequency to control those beasts, where did she learn to do that! IS…is this part of the powers granted to her by her kekkei genkei…!?' _Thought Suzumebachi with wide eyes, surprise written all over her face.

"So…you were finally able to put two and two together huh…? Well, that's good, you see, this is just one of the applications of my kekkei genkei, when I have mastered it, I may even be able to help Naruto-kun master Kurami-sama's (Kyubi's) power!" Explained Karin, causing Suzumebachi's eyes to widen even more than what should have been possible.

"Yes, it is exactly what you think it is! I have the power to tame, subdue, and even control beasts with my chakra, this is the power that the kunoichi of my clan wield." Said Karin quickly, answering Suzumebachi's unasked question before she could voice it out.

"I…I see…" was all Suzumebachi said, trying to regain her composure, it was unbecoming of a kunoichi like her to lose concentration, not to mention showing emotion, during battle.

"Karin-chan, you are so full of surprises, I guess I'm not the only one getting stronger am I?" asked the Kamizuzru heiress rhetorically.

"I'm proud of you, I want you to know that. But, I will prove to you and everyone that I am the strongest, I won't let anyone surpass me! I will be become the Queen Bee in the hive, I will become the alpha female in Naruto-kun's new Uzumaki clan! Hahahahaha! Ahahahahaha!" Laughed the self- proclaimed Queen Bee maniacally, that trade mark insane gleam creeping into her eyes again.

"B-bitch! We'll see about that..Kyah!" shouted Karin, screaming out a childish war cry while extending her right index finger towards a button on the side of the steel container, as soon as she pressed the button, a cage numbered '68' slid open, releasing a cursed seal monster. With no hesitation, Karin flared her chakra, commanding the monster to attack with all it has. Wasting no time, the monster headed the silent command, rushing at the Kamizuru heiress with impressive speed, a club like right fist with spikes jutting out the side prepared in order to bash and crush the kamizuru heiress under its weight.

'_This should be good training for me too, I need to learn to use my __**mind's kagura of the eye**__ simultaneously with my __**beast subjugation technique**__. In the future, this will help me in my efforts to master that other technique_.' Thought Karin in concentration.

'_Too fast!' _Thought Suzumebachi in despair, but even before the despair could settle into her mind, a substantial amount of information filtered into her mind through her telepathic connection with the nano bugs inside of her body, giving her instructions of what to do to not only survive, but to end the battle prematurely. This new knowledge as a result caused the trademark confident smirk to settle back into her facial features.

Heading the instructions and putting all her faith into her babies, Suzumebachi extended her left arm towards the towards the monster's club looking, spiked right limb with incredible reflex and speed, making contact with the giant fist with just her middle and index finger. Karin on the other hand used her chakra sensing technique to analyse exactly what it was that the former Iwa princess had planned.

'_She's concentrating an enormous amount of chakra to her left arm, and releasing it all at once on her index and middle finger. No, that's not all there is to it, there is a significant amount of chakra directed towards her skin and all the muscles, tendons, and joints of her body. This must be the nano-bugs helping in the direction and control of her chakra, they are after all, an extention of her mind.' _Thought Karin, not long before an earth shattering shock wave washed over the battle ground, two fingers and fist connecting with an incredible display of speed and power, a monstrous howl of pain following only a few split seconds after the shock wave. Karin looked at the scene in concentration, shock, and awe. From a spectators point of view, it looked like the monster's arm had just collided with an unstoppable force, the arm rippling violently, bones and joints caving against each other, and bone shattering into pieces, not to mention the explosion of blood and gore that showered the ground like rainfall.

'_P-perfect chakra control….s-sugoi! It's just as I suspected, the nano bugs are synced to her chakra system, her nervous system, and her organs, in other words, they are her. They subconsciously help her with whatever task her body requires to do, each and every bug rigorously immersing itself in its own specific task, and the end result is….that!' _Thought Karin analytically. Karin and the cursed seal monster weren't the only ones surprised though, Suzumebachi was just as surprised, if not even more so than Karin, she'd known that there would be unintended side effects from the bug assimilation, but this…this was just out of this world!

'_Sugoi…I know I said I was the strongest ninja in Oto, but it didn't mean it __**literally**__.' _Thought the Kamizuru heiress excitedly.

'_Hmmm….now to end this things misery!' _Thought Suzumebachi, jumping high up in the air, she quickly did a side flip and then came down with an axe kick aimed at the creature's head. The monster, sensing the danger tried to block the attack with its left hand.

'_Fool, should have rather dodged!' _Thought the Kamizuru princess, bringing down her leg violently against the monster's gigantic limb.

**BOOM!**

Was the ear drum popping sound when her attack connected, causing the earth to cave in on itself, sending fissures rippling through the whole battle field, if one didn't know better, they could have sworn that an earth quake had just passed through the ground, such was the devastation caused by the power of the Queen of the Hornets. The whole landscape was completely restructured, Karin fell flat on her back, and the monster didn't even make a sound, dying almost, if not instantly. Its body lying deep into the 24 foot crater that Suzumebachi's attack created, with the Kamizuru heiress soon jumping out of said crater, not needing to confirm the death of her opponent, it was obvious, if you asked her.

"Well, that guy was quite weak!" said Suzumebachi snobbishly. She was just about to go through a set of hand seals, planning to use her earth release in order to fix up the damage she had done to the battlefield when she stopped mid hand seal sequence, her nano bugs informing her that the hand seals were not necessary, relaying the instructions that she should rather follow. Suzumebachi, once again putting her faith in her babies, heeded their advice, directing her chakra towards her feat.

'_She's channelling her chakra into the ground….no! That's not it, not it at all, she's actually releasing the nano bugs into the ground, but why…?"_ Thought Karin with a confused frown, watching the scene before her intently. The answer presented itself as if responding to her unasked question, the landscape reforming and reshaping itself back to its original form, leaving the dead monster buried deep under the ground.

'_Sugoi…..Earth Release ninjutsu with no hand seal….? I see…by simply filtering her nano bugs into the terrain, she can manipulate the battleground at her own discretion, with nothing but a simple thought, she's very dangerous! I don't think sending one monster after her at a time is going to do, maybe…maybe I should send 10!' _Thought Karin, pushing her glasses in place at the side rim, a nervous habit she had developed since she started training with Kabuto-sensei.

"Well, as you can see, that opponent was not good enough to test a superior kunoichi like me, maybe you should send your little friends in packs of say…maybe five…or ten?" asked Suzumebachi arrogantly.

"Krrrk! Cocky B-bitch! I'll show you!" shouted Karin in frustration, pressing another button on the container, releasing five monsters this time, and off course, not wasting time, the monsters attacked the first thing in their line of sight, which just so happened to be Suzumebachi. All five monsters were swiftly taken out in the figurative blink of an eye. The Kamizuru heiress moving too fast for them to keep up, to avoid more damage to the landscape, the Kamizuru heiress chose to simply crush their skulls with her bare hands, giving them a swift and painless death.

'_Shinobi channel chakra into their muscles and nerves in order to maximise speed and reaction time, but…in order to maximise speed, one has to sacrifice strength, and in order to maximise strength, one has to sacrifice speed. This is because of the chakra used to enhance speed is channelled in a different manner than the chakra used to enhance speed, but once again, she is able to bypass this disadvantage thanks to her nano bugs, who can separately focus on different individual tasks to maximise the end result. This jutsu….is far greater than we could have anticipated, and I haven't even seen everything that she can do with it yet.' _Karin in awe.

"Really now Tomato-chan, these guys combined were even weaker than the first one alone!" Mocked the Kamizuru princess.

"Sh-shut up! Those monsters used to be civilian criminals, they had low and weak chakra to begin with!" Retorted Karin, pressing another button on the container, this time releasing a staggering fifty monsters. This time, instead of letting them fight on their own, Karin actively directed their movements, making them form an effective attack formation around the Kamizuru heiress.

"**Earth Release: Spiked Dungeon Technique!" **Shouted Suzumebach with her hand on her waist, not even moulding any hand seals. Almost instantly, giant spikes shot out of the ground, impaling every single one of the fifty monsters through the heart with incredible accuracy.

'_Shit! This is so not working! I've only got 40 cursed monsters left, and she just took out 50 like it was nothing! This nano-bug jutsu is way more troublesome then I thought, to think I thought she was scary when she was just using her hornet ninjutsu….ridiculous'_ Thought Karin

"Well, bet you didn't expect that did you?" asked Suzumebachi, stifling a giggle at Karin's gobsmacked expression.

"D-damn you! Haaaaakyaaaah take this!" shouted Karin, releasing the rest of the _cavalry _for an all out attack, a deep shade of red spreading across her cheeks, nervousness, frustration, and anger all combined into one expression.

'_Can't believe she's falling for such an obvious trap, hehe….how gullible!'_ Thought the queen bee. The monsters did not even get further than twenty metres before they were engulfed in a cloud of green, screams and howls of agony and confusion echoing from the cloud that had capturedall forty creatures. Throughout the exam, Karin never once lost focus on her **mind's kagura of the eye technique**, which is why she was able to immediately realise how the queen bee had once again outwitted her.

'_Those…those are the nano bugs she was using for her doton ninjutsu….she….bastard! She knew I wouldn't fall for the __**spiked dungeon technique **__again, so she decided to use the bugs as a direct attack instead, to devour the flesh and chakra of her opponents, shit, I'm screwed!'_ Thought the eight year old medical prodigy, watching helplessly as the last of her monsters died from severe chakra depletion. As soon as the last monster fell, the cloud of bugs returned to their host in a swarm of green, disappearing into her body all the monsters at her disposal defeated, Karin dispersed the steel container she had summoned in a giant puff of smoke and ran for her life, using the smokescreen as cover for her escape, unfortunately, she didn't get very far, she'd clearly forgotten who she was dealing with.

"Really? You thought my nano-bugs wouldn't detect your chakra signature moving away from its original position?" asked Suzumebachi rhetorically.

"I thought you had the ability to extinguish your chakra signature, why didn't you do that and hide instead?" asked Suzumebachi with a curious and yet mocking expression on her face.

"I can't use tree climbing or water walking when I do that, my speed would have been reduced to almost civilian level, besides, you would have found my hiding spot anyway with your bees or even your nano bugs searching for me." Retorted Karin.

"Hmmm….I guess you're not as naïve as I thought you were, great analysis, a shinobi should always carefully assess their circumstances before making a decision, however, I will not let you back out on your promise." Replied Suzumebachi in an uncharacteristic sage voice.

"P-promise…what promise?" asked Karin nervously.

"Don't worry Senpei, your opponent will be strong enough, and if it isn't, than we can spar together, I really do need to gain control of my bloodline limit." Retorted Suzumebachi in a mocking imitation of Karin's earlier words.

'_Damn it, I never thought she could defeat all my monsters! Guess it's time for plan B, if the execution is done perfectly, I can surprise her enough to defeat her and then get the hell out of here!' _Thought Karin confidently, a cute but confident smirk forming on her face.

"Aright! A promise is a promise! Let's do this!" Shouted Karin confidently, moulding her hands into the ram hand sign in concentration.

'_Alright, from what she displayed against the monsters, she's now probably the fastest shinobi in Oto, but I can use the __**mind's kagura of the eye **__to anlyse the flow of chakra in her body, this way, I can predict her movements before she even makes them, then…..I'll use __**that **__jutsu as a counter to her strength. She won't know what hit her!'_ Thought Karin.

'_D-did she just challenge me….no…this has to be a trick….what could she be up to though, I know this isn't a genjutsu, I've already checked my chakra and it isn't disturbed in any manner. Hmmm….gues there's only one way to find out!' _Thought Suzumebachi.

"Okay then, if that's what you want!" replied Suzumebachi, causing a tick mark to appear on Karin's forehead.

'_Bitch! As if you gave me a choice!' _Thought Karin, her hands still firmly locked in a ram hand sign.

"Right, here….I…come!" shouted Suzumebachi, shooting off towards Karin at blinding speeds with a straight forward taijutsu attack, her fist cocked back to deliver a devastating blow. Suzumebachi didn't know what the in kami's planet just hit her, but whatever it was, was probably the most powerful force she had ever come up against. The last thing she remembered was herself about to knock out Karin-chan, only to be blasted back a hundred metres back towards the direction she came from, her body recklessly bouncing off of the ground before landing harshly, digging a long trench into the ground.

"Gwaaah!" cried out the kamizuru princess in pain, she couldn't remember the last time she had sustained so much damage, scratch that, she had never sustained this much damage in her entire life. Her right arm was broken and bent at an unnatural angle, her ribs were shattered, with one of them punching through her left lung, even her legs were twisted into awkward angles. Tears were about to trickle down her cheeks when she received a comforting message from her _babies, _followed by a pleasant sensation flowing throughout her body. Almost as soon as the calming sensation came, her body started rapidly repairing itself, broken bones snapped back into position whilst bruised and punctured organs regenerated almost instantly. Before she knew it, the Kamizuru heiress was back on her own two feet again, her broken arm the last to snap back into place as she once again faced her opponent, whose jaw was hanging on the ground in surprise, a gobsmacked expression smashed onto her face.

'_Self healing…? Kuso, those damn nano-bugs are a pain in the ass! What am I going to do now?' _Thought Karin in panic.

When Suzumebachi re-established eye contact with her opponent, the first thing she noted was that her opponent was still standing in that same exact position she was when the queen bee had attacked, with her hands still fixed in that ram hand sign, the second, and most important thing she noticed, was the strong chakra emanating off of the eight year old red head.

"W-what the hell is that?" shouted Suzumebachi, pointing a shaky finger at the eight year old red head, knocking her out of her own thoughts. Karin quickly noted that the Kamizuru heiress was pointing specifically at the very large extension of chakra protruding from her lower back, shaped into a giant arm.

"This….is my **chakra vector technique**, having already been physically acquainted with it, you should already know that you have no chance of winning!" retorted Karin with a fake confident smirk on her face, trying to get her opponent to back down.

"B-but how is this possible! How can you mould chakra like that outside of your body!?" asked the Kamizuru heiress in frustration.

"Tche….my chakra is special, my whole chakra network is different to other peoples, my tenketsu are much bigger and my chakra is very strong and dense in comparison to other shinobi. Because of this anomaly, I am able to manifest my chakra outside of my body and use chakra shape manipulation to give it form, this chakra vector technique is a product of my kekei genkei, be glad, you are only the second person to see this technique." Bragged Karin, happy that she finally had someone looking up to her in awe for her shinobi prowesss, whereas she'd always been the one staring at others in awe prior to this moment.

"I see, but then, that doesn't explain how you were able to keep up with my speed?" queried the Kamizuru heiress.

"I used my Mind's Kagura of the eye to anticipate your movements." Stated Karin matter of factly, causing Suzumebachi's eyes to widen in surprise.

'_I see, I guess she is more than just a sensor type, I never knew she could do that with the mind's kagura of the eye, but still….'_

"You're the slowest person I know in our shinobi ranks, even if you could anticipate my movements, it would still be useless if your body…couldn't…." trailed off Suzumebachi, her eye's widening for the figurative millionth time in realisation.

"I see…." Was all Suzumebachi said, adopting a serious and contemplative expression.

"W-What…?" asked Karin nervously.

"That chakra vector technique is just chakra, and therefore doesn't have the same limitations as your body, as long as you can anticipate the movement with your mind's kagura of the eye, than that limb will react in kind, in other words, just because your body is slow, it doesn't mean that the same apllies to your vector, did I miss anything?" Explained Suzumebachi, confident of her analysis.

"Actually you did…you said vector…whereas, you should have said vectors!" said Karin with a playful smirk. Suzumebachi watched in awe as a second chakra limb grew out of Karin's spine.

'_Damn, it was bad enough that I had to face one of those things, now two?' _Thought Suzumebachi, feeling a little intimidated by the prospect, self-healing was great and all, but that didn't mean that you wouldn't feel the pain when you got injured. The nano-bugs, sensing the distress in their queen, quickly acted on it, sharing some information that would appease their host's mind.

"At my current level, I can only manifest two vectors at a time, but….I will be hopefully be able to manifest at least six when I have mastered this abilty." Explained Karin with a thoughtfull expression.

"Hahahahahahahahaha! Ahahahahaha! Damn I can't believe hahah that hahahahahaha!" Laughed Suzumebachi out of nowhere, causing Karin to frown at her opponent. This wasn't supposed to happen, Suzumebachi was supposed to be intimidated and retreat, not laugh at her like she was some kind of big joke.

"W-what the hell are you laughing at!" screamed Karin in frustaration.

"I think my **chakra eating **nano-bugs are going to enjoy fighting against you Karin-chan." Replied Suzumebachi with a victorious smirk, putting emphases on the words _chakra eating_. Karin's face turned white at the kamizuru's words, realising just how much trouble she was in. She couldn't believe it! How could fate be so cruel. It was just like Kami to take a dump on her moment of victory like this, how could her weakness be Suzumebachi's strength, of all people!

"S-Suzu-Senpei….you don't have to do this! P-please, I'll do anything…I…I…I'll help you complete the **Four Lady Bugs Technique!**" begged Karin desperately, swallowing her pride to beg for her life.

"Jeez! You act like I'm going to kill you, I'm just going to rough you up a little, besides, I don't need your help with that jutsu, the only people who can help me with that one are Naruto-kun and Yakumo-chan." Replied Suzumebachi, taking slow and deliberate steps towards the younger red-head. To Karin, the kamizuru heiress looked even scarier than the king of makai, though she had never seen said king. Both Suzumebachi and karin's eyes widened simultaneously as the kamizuru heiress came to an abrupt halt, both having detected a presence entering the chakra radar.

"T-that chakra….it fells familiar somehow, and it's headed this way fast!" said Suzumebachi out loud.

"That's Orochimaru-sama's chakra!" exclaimed Karin in surprise.

"What! But I thought he was only supposed to return in two months, did you think something happened?" asked Suzumebachi with a concerned expression, looking at Karin, who had closed her eyes in concentration, never having released the ram hand sign.

"We have to go and help him! He's chakra is weakened and his reserves are dangerously low!" exclaimed Karin, her eyes snapping open with a panicked expression on her face.

"Okay…but who could have been strong enough to hurt him like that…..'" trailed off Suzumebachi.

"AKATSUKI!" exclaimed the two kunoichi simultaneously, not wasting any time, both Kunoichi bleared out of existence with a shunshin technique, both heading in the direction of their master, Karin combining her shunshin with her vectors in order to keep up[ with the otherwise faster Suzumebachi.

**CHAPTER END**

**Yaw probably pissed at the lack of Naruto, sorry about that.**

**Anyway, if you're confused about the timeline, it has been two weeks since Naruto and team fought Zabuza and his team, and it has been about two days since Orochimaru fought Shishui.**

**AGES:**

Ranmaru-5

Naruto-8

Karin-8

Yakumo-8

Suigetsu-8

Tayuya-9

Sakon/Ukon-9

Kidomaru- 9

Kimmimaro-9

Haku-9

Jirobo-9

Juugo-10

Guren-12

Suzumebachi-12

**Title Of Next Chapter: **Naruto vs Orochimaru: Who Betrayed Who?

**Let me warn you, the title is misleading, just keep an open mind until I post the chapter:**

**CHAPTER 11 TITLE: **Meeting With The Kazekage:

**CHAPTER 12: **The Chuunin Exams

**Extra Notes:**

**Yes, Karin's Chakra Vector Technique is inspired by Elfien Lied, but there is a lot more to eat, which unfortunately will only be revealed during the invasion is Suzumebachi's Four Lady Bugs Technique, will also have to wait until the invasion arc.**

**The next chapter will begin in wave and then the setting will shift back to Oto as Naruto returns from his first S-class mission.**

**Alright, thanks for reading and I hope you enjoyed it. Keep It Real!**


	10. Chapter 10

**Disclaimer: **I do not own Naruto or any other series/movie I might use for inspiration.

**CHAPTER 10**

_**Who Betrayed Who?**_

"So...your mission was a success huh...Naruto-kun?" trailed off Orochimaru, asking the seemingly obvious in a rhetorical manner.

Standing before him at attention were the cavalry that he had sent out on a very difficult and important mission, Guren, Naruto, Yakumo, Jirobo, and Jugo. But they did not return alone, for with them was the proof of their mission's success, a group of powerful and talented shinobi in their own right, Zabuza, Raiga, Kimimaro, Gozu, Meizu, Ranmaru, Suigetsu, and last but not least, Haku.

"Hai, the mission was a complete success, Zabuza and his team are now one of us; they have agreed to serve and protect Otogakure no Sato." replied the blonde haired Jinchuuriki with a calm but respectful tone.

"Kukukuku! That is very good Naruto-kun, you and your teammates have done well for Oto...I am very pleased!" replied Orochimaru with a creepy combination of elation and amusement, exhibiting a chilly aura that was all the more emphasized by the darkness with which he and his snake shaped thrown seat shrouded in.

_'So this is the Legendary Snake Sannin? His very presence alone is almost unbearable, it is amazing that Ranmaru and the others are able to retain their consciousness under this kind of pressure. This...man's aura is almost as oppressive as the Mizukage just before he enters the initial jinchuuriki state. It would be hard just to survive a battle against him, winning is far out of my reach at the moment' _Thought Zabuza with a thoughtful expression etched on his facial features.

_'Perhaps Mei was right in her judgement, I was a tad bit hasty_ ..._I was...I am not yet at the level of a Kage, the difference between me and the Mizukage was as big as the ocean itself, and the difference between me and this man is just as telling...I will have to train harder from here on out, the bar is clearly much higher then I thought it was. Even if I can never become the Mizukage, that does not mean that I can't become the leader of this village...one day!' _Thought Zabuza with a determined expression.

"Yes well...we had a strong team with a good plan, and we had the element of surprise on our side for the most part. Nevertheless, this is a very big step towards the achievement of our goals, the future seems bright, even if I have to say so myself." replied Naruto charismatically.

"Kukukuku! You have a neck for saying the right words to brighten my mood Naruto-kun - it is an interesting skill that you have, nevertheless...I do hope that your identity was not compromised in the course of your mission, that would have...disatrous consequences..." trailed off Orochimaru with an unmistakeable threatening undertone.

"You need not worry about such a thing, no one from Wave Country will say a thing about me and Otogakure...at least, not until the right moment presents itself." replied Naruto, causing the snake sannin to narrow his eyes at the blonde with a curious expression.

"And what is that supposed to mean exactly?" asked Orochimaru.

"I am not going to go into any long winded explanations right now, but I have written a detailed report about that particular aspect of the mission and given it to our team leader. He will explain everything to you at your own descretion." replied Naruto, never losing the emotionless demeanor that he always maintained when dealing with serious shinobi business.

The details in the report were in actuality not difficult at all to understand, it was pretty straight forward shinobi business. The team spent just over two weeks in Wave Country post their battle with the former mist team, time that was spent weeding out shinobi and civillian spies alike from the country. How this was done was pretty simple enough, Naruto and Yakumo practically put the whole area under lock down and serveillance without the Wave Residents even knowing about it.

Thousands of shadow clones kept watch over the citizens 24/7 under the cover of one of Yakumo's greatest genjutsus for almost two weeks. The clones were very diligent in their work, following, watching, recording, and analyzing everyone's movements with intense scrutiny. the system was effective and consequently, 65 people were captured and interogated of which 63 were found guilty and executed. the other two had their memories of the events wiped out by Yakumo with her mind techniques and were then returned home to continue with their lives.

While all this was happening, the original and the others were able to keep themselves occupied with helping Tazuna complete the bridge, using all of their various special abilities to speed up the process. Jugo and Naruto were able to convince Tazuna into agreeing to a trade alliance with Otogakure that would be mutuallly benefitial, not that Tazuna needed much persuasion anyway, benefits of Naruto's hero status in Wave proving to be more than useful during negotiations.

The second stage of the plan had required that Naruto stood on a podium at the centre of the city on the day of he and his teammates' departure under the pretense that he would be making a final speech to his admirers. The real plan however was to gather all of the people into one place that just so happened to be within the range of Yakumo's mind jutsu, a jutsu that was triggered by specific phrases within Naruto's speech. The final trigger was found in Naruto's last sentence spoken before he transported himself and his crew away with the **teleportation barrier**, leaving behind a nation that would not have any memories of their savior and his allies, Yakumo's jutsu set to ware off only after four and half years, a time that Tazuna would remember the treaty alliance he had agreed with what will be at that point in time a widely known and powerful Otogakure.

"Hmmmm...very well, I will read this report tonight, but now that I think about it, I do not recall myself assigning a team leader for this mission..."trailed off Orochimaru; leaving the question hanging in the air,

This had been done on purpose of course, not to create conflict and disorder, but in order to see how his followers saw themselves in the hierarchial structure of the village given their individual mental and physical abilities, and their different positions and functions in the overall scheme of things.

"I was the leader of this mission, and thereby accept full responsibillity and accountability for any shortcomings and subsequent punishment that you might find and administer respectfully...Orochimaru sama!" responded Jugo with a respectful bow, having stepped forward to take his place next to his brother, causing Orochimaru's serpent like eyes to widen slightly in surprise.

_'I was sure that either Naruto-kun would somehow convince everyone to follow him or that Guren would use force to gain control over the mission. Jugo taking control was unexpected, although...maybe it shouldn't have been as much of a surprise, given how well he has managed to lead the sound four." _Thought the snake Sannin, not quite sure whether he felt confused or relieved - relieved because Naruto had technically passed his test, a test to determine how much of a threat the charismatic blonde could become to his leadership and authority over his subordinates. It isn't like the sannin could help his insecurity, the boy was powerful and constantly getting stronger, he also could not be controlled with a cursed seal, was strong minded, charismatic and well known and liked within the Otogaure shinobi ranks. He was able to befriend everyone he met and they all seemed to want to follow him to the very pits of hell if it came down to it. Orochimaru was weary of this situation, he was afraid that if it one day came down to it, that the boy could possibly overthrow him, that everyone would betray him and take the boy's side, it wasn't like he had given them much of a reason to be loyal to him, at least, not in comparison to what the boy had given them...love, hope and compassion.

_'But then again, according to Kabuto, Naruto-kun is not the type to break a promise without a just cause. Furthermore, he and I have the same dream, the assassination of the Sarutobi Sensei, the complete destruction of Konohagakure no Sato, and the induction of Oto into the big five...maybe I should give him the benefit of the doubt, he does not seem as power hungry as I once thought, at the very least, he possesses not the type of power hunger I thought he had. He won't betray me as long as his loved ones are not harmed by my hand, I can use that to my advantage if I play my cards right, I'm sure of it! Kukukuku! Naruto-kun...you will make a great weapon for me...no!...actually, you __**are**__ a great weapon...kukuku!' _laughed Orochimaru mentally, an evil smirk forming on his outward facial features.

"Very well, Karin!" called out Orochimaru into the darkness

"Hai Orochimaru-sama!" exclaimed Karin, stumbling forward out of the darkness from behind the serpent sannin's throne hastily.

"I want you to escort your new comrades to their living quarters that we have prepared for them and then proceed to give them a tour of their new home. Make sure they are comfortable and well informed and educated about our ways in Oto. When you have done that, you may do as you please until I call on you again!" ordered Orochimaru authoratively.

"H-Hai!" exclaimed Karin hastily, not wasting time, she quickly aproached her new comrades, asking them to follow her as she walked passed the group, heading straight for the door.

_'If it was not for my strong sense of smell, I would not have even known that she had been in the same room as us, I couldn't even sense her chakra at all!' _Thought Naruto.

_**"Well she does have that ability to completely extinguish her chakra signature, and she wasn't exhibiting any negative emotions for me to detect. But even so, to think that the most basic and primitive of our sensor abilities would help us detect her presence is very ironic, albeit amusing as well." **_said Kurami.

_"Hehehe! You've got quite a point there Kaa-chan, I guess we should appreciate even the small things in this life huh..." _replied the blue eyed blonde.

_**"True! And don't you ever forget that lesson sochi-kun; the day you do will mark the beginning of your downfall!" **_replied Kurami with a motherly tone.

_"Don't worry Kaa-chan, I will not forget...I promise!" _was the blonde's mental response:

_**"I know you won't...because I won't allow you to...hey didn't you have something to ask of that redhead girl?" **_asked Kurami with a thoughtful expression.

_"Damn I almost forgot; thanks Kaa-chan!" _exclaimed Naruto through the mental communication link.

_**"You're welcome sochi-kun." **_ replied Kurami simply.

"Karin-chan!" callled out Naruto just before the girl touched the door knob; causing her to freeze in her motions almost instantly, a small shiver running through her body at the sound of her Naruto-kun's soft and gentle voice. She hadn't spoken or even made eye contact with him since he returned, to be honest, she was kind of avoiding him at the moment. She isn't one to shy away from public display of affection, especially with her Naruto-kun, but ever since the talk they had before he left for his mission, she really and desperately wanted to show him that she was not just a love crazy and dillusional fan girl. she wanted to show him that she could be a powerful, respectable, competent, and serious kunoichi, worthy of a place by his side, worthy of birthing his children for the new Uzumaki clan, and most importantly, worthy of his love.

"I need to ask a favor of you...if you do not mind?" asked Naruto.

"Um...y-yes? How my I help you Naruto ku...Uzumaki-san?" asked Karin, trying her best not to show any emotion but failing miserably, her arkwardness not hard for even a blind man to see.

_'Uzumak san...? When did I become Uzumaki-san to her? This is strange...She's acting strange' _thought the blonde.

_**"Indeed she is, she has never been so formal with you, not even on the first day that we met her! But it miight not be as bad as it seems...I do not sense any negative emotions from her, unlike with Yakumo.'"**_Said Kurami.

_'Yakumo chan...she has every reason to hate me now, I don't blame her!' _Thought Naruto with a sad frown.

_**"When one exposes themselves to a great love, they risk leaving themselves open to a great hate. I know it was not entirely your own fault but you and that crystal girl really did a number on her heart with what the two of you did in Wave Country. I should punish you for what you did...but what you're feeling right now is punishment enough!"**_

_'Does that mean that you...'_

_**"Yes! I'm going to help you mend your relationships with the precious ladies in your life, since they mean that much to you!"** _

_"Kaa-chan I...I don't know what to s-say..." _sputtered the blonde haired enigma arkwardly.

_**"You don't need to say anything, it is my duty as your mother to make sure that you're safe and happy, but a thank you would be appreciated...it would also be the polite and respectful thing to do." **_replied Kurami nonchalantly.

"What is it that you need Uzumaki-san?" asked Karin with a strong voice, having recovered her composure from the depths of her mind and body and subsequently but unknowingly breaking the blonde Uzumaki's communication link with his mother.

"Ahem! Yes um...the boy on Raiga's back...Ranmaru..."

"What about him?" asked Karin with a curious expression, cutting the blonde off mid-sentence.

"Ranmaru had an unfortunate accident in his earlier years in life, an accident that rendered the lower half of his body permanently incapacitated..."

"And you want me to fix him up so that he can become a valuable shinobi for Otogakure no Sato, right?" asked Karin, finishing off what she thought the blonde was going to say.

"Exactly! You have my full confidence in your medical proficiency, I believe that you will be able to help him." praised Naruto, a shark like smile that Karin couldn't resist morphing into his facial features.

"Hn! Flattery will get you nowhere Naruto-kun!" Exclaimed Karin indignantly before turning around to face the doorway, trying to hide the deep shade of red that was quickly spreading across her face.

"But thank you, it means a lot to me that you can trust me with something so important. And since he wasn't born like this, I can have him walking within a month, that's a promise!" replied Karin passionately before she made her way out of the door, Zabuza and his crew following right behind her.

"No...thank you!" mumbled Naruto to himself, his voice snuffed out by Raiga and Ranmaru's questions and words of praise and gratitude respectively as they made their way down the corridor behind Karin.

"Kukuku! You never leave anything un-attended do you Naruto-kun!" asked Orochimaru rhetorically.

"I guess it can be said that I like to keep a hands on approach, Kaa-chan says that I'm a perfectionist." replied Naruto calmly.

"But nevermind that, why don't you tell us why you returned two months early from your mission with the Akatsuki, and why you have only returned with one hand?" asked Naruto with a serious tone, causing everyone's eyes, Orochimaru's included to widen in surprise.

"Y-you cursed child! how did you...?"

"How did I know? Did you not know that foxes can see quite well even in the dark, besides, you know that I can make out the shapes in my mind of anyone whose chakra that I can sense, and your shape is missing a hand. Furthermore, your chakra has been weakened, so...what happened?" asked Naruto again, causing Orochimaru to narrow his eyes in distain.

He was now starting to have second thoughts about the Samehada DNA that he had implanted on the boy! At the time, he had only been concerned with the success of the experiment not to mention the chance of obtaining a powerful weapon for himself. The boy had been young, still was young, Orochimaru thought that it would be easy to manipulate and control him like he had done with Guren, so he hadn't been too worried about the boy's power.

But he had not long after the experiment found out about the boy's relationship with the Kyubi, a mother/son relationship that was obviously fake if you asked him, it was clear, at least to Orochimaru that the Kyubi was the one manipulating the blonde, and it's claws were so deep into the boy that he could do nothing to remove them. The only thing he could do now was to try and get his hands on an Uchiha body before the blonde became too strong for him to supress, before the boy betrays him. Orochimaru had thought that he could supress the boy's growth without him realising, after all, Naruto would never realise that he was being held back as long as he was learning at least twice as much as what Konoha was teaching him, which was very close to zero.

But that plan also went down the drain, Kyubi was teaching the boy a lot of the Uzumaki Clan techniques of its previous hosts and it was training his mind too, Naruto did not think like an 8 year old, he thought, spoke, fought, and acted like a veteran shinobi. Killing the boy now would probably cause a civil war...scratch that, killing the boy now would turn the whole village against him, with the exception of maybe Guren and Kabuto, although, with the Kyubi by his side, the Uzumaki Clan techniques and the Samehada's powers, Orochimaru was not willing to take the risk of trying to kill the boy, lest he be the one to die instead.

_'There is a lot more to the Samehada than what Kisame displayed in the Akatsuki, was it a lack of proficiency with the sword on his part...or was he just hiding a lot of his power from the rest of us...I wonder? In any case, I have at least until we have destroyed Konoha to get myself an Uchiha body, if Naruto-kun plans to betray me, than it will not be until we have completed that goal at least' _Thought the Snake Sannin.

"You will mind your own business! If you know what's good for you that is!" replied Orochimaru maliciously.

"Anything involving the Akatsuki is my business! And the leader of our village being weakened is my business in my capacity as the Head Of Village Security, a position that you yourself appointed me to!" responded the blonde with equal intensity, causing Orochimaru to twitch irritably.

"Aargh! Fine, we will speak of this later tonight, you may join Jugo when he delivers the mission report, we will speak then! Now leave! All of you, you are all dismisssed!" spat Orochimaru rudely, causing everyone to start scrambling towards the door. Anyone who knew about the Snake Sannin's volatile and pertulant personality wanted to get as far away from him as possible when he showed that side of himself.

"Guren...! You may remain behind, Orochimaru-sama wishes to have a...word with you in private!" said Kabuto with a creepy undertone, his voice and footsteps echoeing all around the throne room as he walked out of the darkness behind the throne and into the light in front of it.

Guren stopped on her tracks and turned around to face the snake sannin and his right hand man as the rest of the crew left the throne room.

_"Kaa-chan!" _called out naruto mentally as he walked down the corridor. The others, Yakumo, Jugo, and Jirobo were chattering amongst themselves, discussing the events of the mission and trying to guess what Orochimaru wanted to talk about with Guren. But Naruto was ignoring everyone else, because he already knew what Orochimaru wanted to do with Guren, and he had no intention of allowing it to happen.

_**"What's the matter Naruto-kun?"**_

_"Remember what Guren said in Wave, about her being Orochimaru-sama's next vessel...?" _asked the blonde rhetorically, causing Kurami's eyes to widen in realisation.

_**"Yes...yes I do remember sochi-kun...what are you planning to do?" **_asked Kurami.

_'I'm going to stop it, I won't allow one of my precious people to die while I sit back and do nothing, I won't allow her to take her body!' _exclaimed Naruto passionately.

_**"Alright! I would have given you the worst hiding if you had been that much of a coward anyway! Don't worry sochi-kun, I support your decision and I will help you! Now hurry up and tell me how we are going to do this!" **_replied Kurami.

_"Okay here goes...right now I'm monitoring their chakra signatures, I will act as soon as Orochimaru-sama approaches her. As you already know, I have already marked her with a hiraishin sealing formula, I will transport myself to her location in order to get her out of the way and then launch a counter attack..."_

**THRONE ROOM...**

"Kabuto!" greeted Guren, not bothering to hide the hostility in her voice. Oh how she hated that four eyed slimy bastard, she didn't understand why Orochimaru valued him enough to make him his right hand man, she personally thought that she would do a far better job and of course was far more deserving of the position. She was more loyal and more powerful than he was, so why was he Orochimaru-sama's right hand man, she just didn't understand.

Up until recently, she had always consoled herself with the fact that Orochimaru-sama valued her enough to make her his next vessel. The fact that he thought that her body was better than even his own had pulled her out of her misery and filled her with an unimaginable happiness. At the time, she had thought this to be an even greater honour and priviledge than to simply be his right hand man, she would actually be a part of Orochimaru's mind and body, she could have served him and been with him for eternity, unlike Kabuto teme!

But now...she wasn't so sure she wanted to give up all of her own hopes and dreams for Orochimaru-sama's ambitions. She still loved him and thought of him as a father, but...was this what she really wanted to do? What about her own happiness, Orochimaru once told her that she was like a daughter to him, but if she was his daughter, shouldn't he have considered her own happiness and her own dreams in his decision?

For a long time now, ever since Naruto-kun joined the village, she had been unhappy. She hadn't understood why the very sight of Naruto-kun made her angry, anxious, and unhappy up until recently. Now she knew, Naruto-kun valued life and lived it to the fullest, and that had made her subconsciously question her desire to disappear into Orochimaru-sama's mind. Naruto-kun loved his friends, made them feel loved, and went to great lengths to ensure their safety, comfort, and happiness, and that had made her wonder why she didn't have someone like that for her. Naruto-kun had his own dreams, goals, and ambitions, and that had made her wonder why she did not have her own and instead, lived solely to fulfill someone elses.

All in all, Naruto-kun had made her question her whole existence when she didn't have the answers, that is why she had taken out her frustrations on him all this time, that is why she had thought that she hated him, because he had made her unsure of herself and left her in limbo.

So she had attacked and insulted him every chance that she could, she felt that he deserved it for what he had done to her, because of what he had taken from her. That was the initial reason behind it anyway, but later developed into something else. Naruto didn't react with neither verbal or physical retliation, he actually gave her attention and acted like it was a game that they played together. He would laugh and run away from her while trying to avoid her attacks, he would even set up harmless pranks on her, heck he even thanked her for taking her time to 'play' with him when they were done.

Guren, without realising it started to look forward to these 'games', she even made sure on many occassions that they would 'accidentally' run into each other, knowing that she would get to spend some 'quality time' with him. Soon, Naruto started having a physical effect on her, Kunoichi bodies developed faster than ordinary civiliian females, so naturally, at age twelve, Guren's body was reacting differently to physical contact with a boy like Naruto, she at times felt like electricity was coursing through her body when she made contact with him, of course she couldn't and wouldn't show this embarrassment to him, but it did inspire her to decrease her ninjutsu attacks on him and increase her taijutsu attacks, just so that she could feel his body against hers.

It was because of these raging hormones that she and Naruto-kun had been at the receiving end of terrible beating from Yakumo, she had trapped them in a genjutsu where she was super fast and super strong and went on to beat the crap out of them, knowing that whatever happened in her genjutsu would be transfered to the real world, in other words, whatever damage they sustained in the genjutsu would be manifested in their real bodies.

Guren blamed herself and tried to convince Yakumo that it wasn't Naruto-kun's fault, that she had forced herself on him...even though she had to secretly admit that he hadn't done anything close to what he could have to stop her. It was just a twisted situation, she'd been avoiding the talk that Naruto promised her like it was the plaque, Naruto, naturally hadn't given up and seeked her out, it just so happened that she had just gotten out of the water when he found her butt naked after a refreshing swim.

Her pervert detector had alarmed her to his presence and the next thing she knew, she was on top of him and strangling him, a strangling that turned into a wrestling match and ended up with a a shouting match, the two pre-teens confessing their feelings for one another, with Naruto-kun finally acknowledging her as one of his most precious people.

Feelings and hormones raging, Guren had taken charge of the situation and found herself forcing the blonde to eat out of her wet and swolen womanhood. Lost in his own ecstacy, the blonde haired Uzumaki did not notice Guren removing his clothing until he was already naked, the 12 year old initiating the Blonde's first sexual experience by reciprocating the oral pleasure she was receiving, taking in the blonde's five and a half inches into her throat in the six nine position.

They had pleasured each other until they both orgasmed at the same time, but that had not been enough to satiate Gurens lust, she wanted her Naruto-kun inside of her and she would have him inside of her if it was the last thing she did in her life, it was the only thing that mattered at the time, to become one with her Naruto-kun.

He'd refused her, stating that what they had done was bad enough as it was, and that he had promised Yakumo-chan that they would share their first time together.

Jealousy and rage had consumed her to the brink of madness, she'd surprise attacked him, impaling him into the ground with her crystal spears, she knew he could handle the pain so she wasn't too worried.

She'd just placed the tip of his erection against her vulva, preparing to impale herself when Yakumo had found them, and the rest was all history, Yakumo made sure that they wouldn't be even thinking about sex any time soon.

"You know why you are here, isn't that so, Guren-chan?" asked Kabuto with a mad gleem in his eyes, pushing up on his glasses with his middle and index finger.

"That's Guren-sama to you, scum!" esclaimed Guren, gritting her teeth in anger at the blatant disrespect from Kabuto.

"Aaaah...well in any case, as you already know, Orochimaru-sama's current body has become surplus to requirements, he will need a new body, one that will not only be strong enough to contain his chakra...but one that can't be as easily damaged as the current one..." trailed off Kabuto, leaving Guren to put two and two together in her own mind.

_'Oh no! This can't be happening I-I still have so much I want to do...I-its too early!' _Thought Guren frantically.

"B-but! But I thought you said you wouldn't need me for another three years, y-you promised! Orochimaru-sama!" exclaimed Guren in a panic, body shaking violently and eyes wide and darting around the room looking for a quick escape.

"Hai...indeed I did make that promise, but the promise was made under the assumption that this body would be useful to me until that time has passed, but as you can see, the circumstances have changed! Guren, I would prefer it if you allowed the ritual to occur willingly, I don't want to have to use force...but I will if that is what it comes down to!" said Orochimaru with a sad but determined expression.

"Orochimaru-sama...I...I can't!" exclaimed Guren, making a swift turn and running straight for the door.

_'Naruto-kun...I...I want to live...I want to live my life with you! I-I'm coming Naruto-kun, wait for me!' _Thought Guren.

"You won't get away from me...you're mine!" exclaimed Orochimaru. A giant serpent like figure flew out of his mouth at great speeds as soon as his words registered, leaving behind a a human shell on the throne.

The figure was a giant serpent that took up most of the room, the snake like figure composed of hundreds of smaller snakes with small humanoid hands sticking out closer to the head. The head of the snake looked like a mix between a snake and a human's face with long black hair, upon closer inspection, the snake can be recognised as the one and only leader of Otogakure no Sato, Orochimaru of the Densetsu no Sannin.

Orochimaru, in his serpent form was too fast for Guren, headbutting her on her spine, Guren subsequently crashing head first against the steel door.

"Aaaargh!" cried out Guren, but she was not the self proclaimed strongest kunoichi in Oto for nothing, she'd already covered her body with her crystal armour beforehand and therefore didn't feel any pain at all, the loud cry more from surprise more than anything else. Guren quickly turned around, fully prepaired to defend herself against her master, with the intent to kill if neccessary.

"Aaaaaaah! What the hell are you...Monster!" cried out Guren in astonishment and mostly fear, pressing her back against the steel door violently, almost as if she was trying to faze through the door. She hadn't expected to see something like this when she decided to face her foe in battle, but this...was this thing Orochimaru's true form, is this what she had wanted to become a part of all this time!

Her hesitation however was all that Orochimaru needed to make his move, springing himself at the 12 year old with his maw wide open at an incredible speed that she couldn't hope to cope with from such a close range, at least, not with her mind as paralyzed as it was from shock and fear. The sannin unlocked his jaw bones and extended his mouth wide enough to swallow her whole. Guren couldn't even move a single muscle or nerve in her body, she couldn't even mold chakra for her crystal release ninjutsu, having been paralyzed by Orochimaru's **temporary paralyse technique**, a jutsu that the sannin should have been greatful for, because otherwise she would have been preparing to crystalize his insides with her **kekkei genkei. **

'_I guess this is it...snifff...I'm sorry...Naruto-kun!' _Thought Guren with a river of tears running down her soft cheeks.

**SNAP!**

Was the sound as Orochimaru's jaw snapped shut around the spot where the twelve year old prodigy had been. But something was wrong, the ritual should have begun as soon as he'd swallowed her, he shouldn't even be here right now, he should be inside his mental dimension where he could fully subdue Guren's mind before taking over her body. So why was he still conscious and not in that mental dimension, and why didn't he even feel like he had swallowed a whole human being, he felt the same as he did before for some reason.

"You can open your eyes now, I won't let anything bad happen to you...Guren-chan!" said Naruto softly, a gentle smile displayed on his facial features. He was standing on the wall on Orochimaru's far right hand side with Guren's form wrapped inside his embrace bridal style.

_'That voice! I-It couldn't be...could it?' _Thought Guren in surprise and happiness, her eyes snapping wide open the instant she heard that unmistakeable voice, making direct eye contact with the most beautiful blue eyes she had ever seen.

"Naruto-kun! I-Is it really you...y-you came back for me?" asked Guren, unable to believe the fairytale like event that she was experiencing, surely the real world was too cruel to allow something like this to happen, wasn't it?

"Hai...it's really me. And, of course I came back for you, you're a very precious person to me, someone that I love...someone that that I'd be willing to die for." said Naruto affectionately.

"Naruto-kun I...I...I love you...! Sniff...I love you so much! Thank you...thank you so much...Naruto-kun!" cried Guren with tears of happiness, traping the blonde haired Uzumaki in a crushing embrace.

"How did you get inside here...and more importantly, what is the meaning of this Naruto!" exclaimed Orochimaru angrily. Naruto turned around to face the snake sannin, jumped down to the floor, placed Guren on her feet and made eye contact with the giant snake, an angry but curious expression plastered on his facial features.

"So this is your true form, not entirely unexpected I must admit, but still shocking nontheless." said Naruto simply, carefully studying his possible opponent with intense scrutiny.

"W-what are we going to do now Naruto-kun?" asked Guren nervously.

"Just keep your eye on Kabuto-sama, if he tries to help Orochimaru-sama, kill him!" replied Naruto simply.

"Oh my, how cruel of you...Naruto-kun, here I was, thinking that I was also one of your most precious people,...how deceitful of you!" said Kabuto with mock hurt, not forgetting the trade mark habit of pushing his glasses into place. Naruto however chose to ignore him, not willing to keep the snake sannin out of his sight for even a split second.

"Shut up you lowly back stabbing scum! Don't you dare insult Naruto-kun...or else!" exclaimed Guren maliciously.

"Oh...I do not intent to fight you, see...I'm not much of a fighter, just your friendly neighbourhood healer! Let us just stay out of it alright, and let Orochimaru-sama and Naruto-kun sort out their differences. I won't interfere as long as you don't interfere either." responded Kabuto with a smirk and tone that made it hard to believe a single word that came out of his mouth.

"Fine!" said Guren, jumping in front of Kabuto, positioning herself in a battle stance not to close and not to far from her opponent.

"So...you've finally decided to make your move...Naruto-kun, Kukuku...I didn't expect you to betray me this soon though, I was sure that you would wait until we had destroyed Konoha and assassinated Sarutobi-sensei! It would have been the logical thing to do, I guess you're not as smart as I thought, your impatience will be your downfall, Kukuku!" laughed Orochimaru maniacly. Naruto on the other hand just stared at Orochimaru as if he head grown a second, finding the snake sannin's analogy to be completely ridiculous.

"It is a pity that you have to die, you would have made a great weapon for me, but it matters not, I'll just have to kill you and seal the Kyubi into Yukimaru! You will pay for this betrayal" exclaimed Orochimaru venomously.

"Bastard! You told me that he was dead! What is the meaning of this?" shouted Guren in anger and surprise.

"Hehehe! Why do you pretend to care about him, when you are the one that killed his mother and left him all alone?" asked Kabuto with a cruel smirk, taking comfort in the hurt showing in Guren's eyes.

"What are you all talking about, Guren, who's this Yukimaru person?" asked Naruto with a confused expression.

",,,," Guren couldn't bring herself to respond to the blonde's question, afraid that he would hate her if he found out what she did to the poor innocent boy, to the woman that took her in, fed her, treated her injuries, and even welcomed her to her family. She was afraid that he wouldn't feel the same way about her if he found out how much of a bad person she was.

"Kukuku! Yukimaru is a weapon we had kept in store should our current weapon prove to be defective. He is a boy with powerful chakra and life-force much like that of the Senju and Uzumaki-clan, but more importantly, is his ability to subdue and control bijuu. He will be very useful to me now that you have betrayed ussss!" replied Orochimaru with mad glee.

"Hmmmm...I see, but why do you keep accusing me of betraying you, when it is you that has betrayed me?" asked Naruto.

"Silence! You will not talk yourself out of this!" exclaimed Orochimaru, launching nearly a hundred snakes from his body towards the blonde at blinding speeds. The blonde however was to fast in his reaction, throwing a tri-pronged kunai directly towards the barrage of snakes before clasping his hands together in concentration.

**"Sealing Art: Teleportation Barrier!" **shouted Naruto. The barrage of snakes was transported away to a different location with the **hiraishin no jutsu **as soon as they got within a metre of the kunai, the kunai left alone to continue on its path towards Orochimaru's head.

_'Masaka! I-it can't be! That was...' _Orochimaru was cut of mid-thought by the approaching kunai, moving his head to the side in order to avoint a head stab. But, this was exactly what Naruto had been counting on, transporting himself to the moving kunai that was now on Orochimaru's blind side.

"This is the **Flying Thunder God level 2...**and it's over!" said Naruto, his voice projecting from the space behind Orochimaru's head, whose eyes were wide eyed in complete and utter shock, not having expected to face the Fourth Hokage's jutsu in his lifetime, or any other lifetime for that matter.

Naruto, having cought the tri-pronged kunai in his right hand, quickly channelled his chakra into the kunai, using sound vibrations to extend his reach and increase the penetration exponentially.

**"Sound Style: Ultra Vibrating Blade!" **whispered Naruto, the invisible extention of the vibrating blade cutting through the snake sannin's neck like a hot knife through butter, effectively decapitating the gigantic serpent, its body twirling violently before crashing into the ground, Naruto landing on his feet right next to the snake's body.

"It's over...now, I'm going to seal away this body for further examination and study." mumbled Naruto to himself, taking out a sealing scroll from the kunai pouch on his right leg.

_'Naruto-kun...y-you did it!' _thought Guren happily, a small smile forming on her facila features.

"N-no way! This can't be...O-Orochimaru-sama c-can't be dead! I-It's impossible!" Exclaimed Kabuto with wide eyes, falling down onto his knees in despair.

Naruto froze in place just as he was about to unravel the scroll to perform the sealing, and not because he wanted to or by reflex either, but because he couldn't move no matter how much he wanted to.

_"What's going on! Why can't I move my body...Kaa-chan!" _asked Naruto frantically.

**"It seems you have ingested some kind of fast acting paralysis poison into your body, look carefully, try to identify where it is coming from, I'll take care of the poison in the mean time!" **replied Kurami with a motherly and comforting tone, trying to make sure that Naruto knew that everything would be fine as long as he had her.

_'Alright!' _said Naruto, looking at the first place his mind went to in order to identify the source of the poison, the corpse in front of him.

"Kukukuku! Kukukuku!" laughed Orochimaru gleefully, snakes shooting out of the 'snake corpse' from where the neck was severed and into the wound below Orochimaru's head, connecting the two body parts back together as the snakes pulled the head back to the rest of the body.

"You're still alive huh...I should have known you wouldn't die that easily." said Naruto calmly.

"Kukuku! You can't fool me Naruto-kun, I know that you can't move a single muscle in your body, you see, this the body of the white snake, the blood inside this body evaporates immediately upon contact with the atmosphere, releasing a strong paralyzing poison into the atmosphere that only I am immune to...Kukukuku!" laughed Orochimaru maniacly.

"One thing I want to know before I kill you though, how did you learn to do that?" spat Orochimaru, his gleeful demeanor changing into one of anger and contempt.

"Learn to do what?" asked Naruto casually.

"The **Hiraishin no Jutsu **you worthless traitor!" exclaimed Orochimaru indignantly.

"Aaaah you mean that...I don't know, I guess it was a fluke." replied Naruto nonchalantly, a shark like smirk forming on his face, the sight of an indignant looking snake quite an amusing sight to him.

"Krrrrrk...fine, it doesn't matter anyway, since you're going to die anyway, but why did you betray me, was this girl really worth your life?" asked Orochimaru, unable to contain his curiousity any longer.

"I never had the intention of betraying you nor did I betray you, you...are the one that betrayed **me.**" replied Naruto, eyes narrowed in anger, shocking everyone within the vicinity, even Guren.

"I...betrayed you? What nonsense is this! How is it that I am the one who betrayed you?" asked Orochimaru incredulously.

"We had an agreement, that none of my precious people would be hurt by your hand or by your orders as long as I served you and Otogakure no Sato loyally, yet here you are, trying to do the very thing that you promised you wouldn't do, shattering the binding agreement that we made to each other! Tell me...Orochimaru-sama, exactly who is the traitor here, between the two of us?" asked Naruto rhetorically, causing Orochimaru's eyes to widen for the figurative millionth time on this particular day.

"B-but you and Guren hate each other's guts! She was never one of your precious loved ones!" exclaimed Orochimaru incredulously.

"You're wrong, Guren and I care deeply for each other...we just have a different way of showing it." replied the blonde.

_'H-he's not lying...but this is impossible, does that mean that he really didn't betray me...that I b-betrayed him instead!' _thought Orochimaru, unable to bring himself to believe this kind of twisted irony, a deep frown settled on his snake like features.

"So this was just a big misunderstanding after all, for what it is worth, I apologise. But...I need that body, there is no one else available!" said Orochimaru apologetically, slithering across the ground towards a terrified Guren.

"N-no! G-get away from me! N-Naruto-kun!" cried out the crystal release user.

"So, you're going to continue to persue her body...you're going to betray me?" asked Naruto, a silent rage festering into his heart.

"It is unfortunate, but it has to be done...don't worry, you will not have to live with the pain of your loss for too long, I will release you from your misery as soon as I complete the ritual...Gwah!" screamed Orochimaru in pain, his body shredded into four huge chunks in the blink of an eye, a giant, red chakra claw tearing into his body at an incredible speed and accuracy.

**"I didn't want to have to do this, but you have left me with no choice! I'm going to have to kill you!" **said Naruto in a deep and demonic voice. Orochimaru quickly used the **gathering of the snakes technique** to put his body back together, facing the foe that was supposed to be under his paralysis jutsu. What he saw suprised him greatly, this was actually the first time he had seen the boy utilize the Kyubi's power, and while he would never show it or admit it, he found the boy more than intimidating in this form. The boy didn't even look very human now, he really looked like a demon with those red animalistic eyes, clawed hands, darker and longer whisker marks and the three tailed cloak surounding his body.

"Kukuku! So the Kyubi's power can render poison a useless factor against you, how interesting! But I'm afraid you're way in ahead of yourself Naruto-kun, you cannot kill me, I'm imortal! I will never die! Kukuku!" laughed Orochimaru.

**"Hehe, we'll see about that!" **replied Naruto with a sinister smirk, a fourth tail growing on his back as his skin started peeling off.

_**"Naruto-kun, remember what we practised in training. Use your your shark skin scales to protect your body from the side effects of using my chakra! Do it now, quickly!" **_Ordered Kurami.

_"Okay!" _replied Naruto. Following his mother's instructions, the blonde grew scales all over his body before allowing Kurami's chakra to cover his whole body, transforming into a miniature Kyubi that was made out of a dense layer of red chakra that made him look like he was made out of burning coal.

**"Did you know, that bijuu chakra is highly corrossive to the human body, especially to that of a non-jinchuuriki who doesn't have a jinchuuriki seal to purify the corrosive chakra." **said Naruto, causing Kabuto's eyes to widen in realisation.

_'That chakra! I have never felt anything so evil, strong, and malicious in my enire existence. I don't think even Orochimaru-sama could survive if Naruto-kun manages to filter that chakra into his system, his whole body would completely decompose! Furthermore, Orochimaru-sama's immortality extends only as far as his chakra reserves, if he runs out of chakra, then he will surely die! I have to stop this before it gets out of hand!' _thought Kabuto wearily.

"Wait! Orochimaru-sama...Naruto-kun...ahem...what if I told you that there was another way to settle this without killing each other?" asked Kabuto deplomatically.

"What are you talking about Kabuto? The only way that could happen would be if you gave me your body instead, you know what...that wouldn't be such a bad idea, I've always been fascinated by that **yin healing wound destruction technique **of yours. Who knows what other secrets I might discover in that body of yours." suggested Orochimaru slyly, causing Kabuto to shiver involuntarily, caughing slightly in an effort to regain his composure.

"Ahem! Well, I had someone even better in mind! You see, I kept a back up in store as plan B, in case something happened to Guren-chan during a mission, or...in case she turned traitor!" said Kabuto, spitting out the word 'traitor' with venom.

"And who is this person, Kabuto?" hissed Orochimaru.

"Misumi's older sister, Tsurugi Masaski!" said Kabuto, a confident smirk plastered into his face.

"Not that I do not appreciate your efforts, but why did you choose her, Kabuto-kun?" asked Orochimaru curiously.

"Well, for one, we have both hers and Misumi's blessing to conduct the ritual on her, but more importantly, her kekkei genkei will probably complement your fighting style even more than Guren's powers would have. You have occassionally expressed your displeasure with regards to kenjutsu and taijutsu, noting on many occassions how those particular skills were lacking in comprison to your ninjutsu. With Masaki's body, you can take the **hebi taijutsu and kenjutsu style **to a new level, just imagine, the ability to dislocate and reposition your joints to execute and dodge impossible moves, the ability to stretch your limbs to ridiculous lengths in order to launch surprsie attacks with your sword and fists. Even further, you can also improve on your **hebi ninjutsu **withenough creativity and practise with her kekkei genkei! Orochimaru-sama, this is a great opportunity, we should not waste it." urged Kabuto charismatically, providing a more than convincing argument for his plan.

"Hmmmm...where is this girl that you speak of?" demanded Orochimaru.

"She is on her way as we speak, she should be here in aproximately two hours!" replied Kabuto hastily, hoping beyond hope that Orochimaru-sama would abandon his persuit of Guren's body in favor of Masaki, persuing Guren's body was too dangerous of an endavor at the moment.

"Fine! She will have to suffice for now!" submitted Orochimaru. This Masaki girl didn't sound like a bad idea at all, in fact, the way Kabuto vouched for her, it almost sounded like she was the better option, like she was created just for him.

"It is alright Naruto-kun, you can have Guren back, there is no longer a need for you to fight us, we are on the same side." said Kabuto in a polite and placating manner. Naruto, seeing Orochimaru retreating to his throne, also deactivated his jinchuuriki and shark skin state, reforming into his normal, human state.

"Fair enough, but we have a lot to discuss still. I want a renegotiation of our deal, and I want compensation for this betrayal!" demanded Naruto.

"Fine, you can have whatever you want, as long as it is within reason!" hissed Orochimaru impatiently, honestly, he wanted nothing more than for the blonde to get the hell out of his line of sight, this was just too much Naruto for one day.

"As compensation for your betrayal, you will give Yukimaru back to me and Guren and you will register the two of us as his legal guardians...!"

**CHAPTER END**

**Phew! That took real long, writers block and laziness getting the better of me!**

**Anyway that was the chapter, hope yaw enjoyed it.**

**For those of you who do not know, Misumi is one of Kabuto's teammates from the chuunin exams, the one who can stretch his limbs and constrict people. He was the one that fought Kankuro.**

**Masaki is the girl that Orochimaru was initially using as his body when he fought the sandaime, I do not know her real name nor do I know her heritage, but I decided to make her Misumi's sister in this fic.**

**The title of the next chapter will be: **MEETING WITH THE KAZEKAGE

**Thank you for reading and please review.**


	11. Chapter 11

**Disclaimer: **I do not own the Naruto series or any other series/movie that I might use for inspiration

**CHAPTER 11**

_**Meeting With The Kazekage**_

**Three Years Later...**

"Temari, Kankuro...Gaara..." greeted the Fourth Kazekage neutrally, keeping hold of his emotionless demeanor even before his own children. He was sitting behind his desk with his hands folded in front of his face as he adressed them, maintaining a relaxed farcade, though in actuality, he was more than alert of his surroundings, as any sane shinobi should be in the presence of his homocidal son , Sabaku no Gaara, the Ichibi Jinchuuriki.

The Fourth Kazekage is a farely handsome man of moderate height with rusted, spiky brown hair and dark brown pupils, his outfit consisting of black ninja pants, dark brown ninja sandals and a long, white Kage's robe with the kanji for 'wind shadow' on the back. The Kazekage carries no visible weapons with him, his **magnetic release **and** gold dust technique** all he needs to defeat his opponents.

"Kazekage-sama!" bowed the Kazekage's eldest child, his daughter, Sabaku no Temari respectfully, a beautiful 13 year old girl with light shade of spiky blonde hair that is tied up into four pony tails and beautiful green eyes. She is wearing a purple-coloured, off the shoulder garment that extends to halfway down her thighs with a scarlet sash tied around her waist. In addition to incorporating a fishnet worn over her shoulders and legs, specifically on her right calf and left thigh, she also has a black forehead protector tied around her neck with a large metalic fan strapped across her back, a weapon she uses to argment her **wind release ninjutsu**.

"Otou-sama!" greeted the Kazekage's eldest son and second born child, Sabaku no Kankuro, bowing his head in respect. Kankuro is a rather tall twelve year old boy wearing a black, baggy full body suit with a red and yellow circle at the front. Covering his head is a black hood with cat-like ears and forehead protector wrapped around his forehead. His face is covered with a face paint that has taken to a triangular design and on his back is a human sized battle puppet that is wrapped up in bandages.

"..." Gaara on the other hand simply refused to acknowledge his father and leader, keeping hold of a rigid and alert stance with a stone faced expression. He is the youngest of the people present in the office and the shortest too, with green eyes, fair skin, and short, spiky red hair with no distinctive eyebrows. He however has very distinctive, tanuki-like black rings around his eyes, another distinctive feature being the kanji for 'love' on the left side of his forehead, exposed by the parted forlocks on his left side of the head. Gaara is wearing a full body suit with t-shirt like sleeeves, 3/4 length legs, and an open neck with a white cloth over his right shoulder and around the left side of his hips. He carries a huge gourd on his bag held by a wide leather band system over left shoulder and around the right side of his hips.

The Kazekage couldn't help but take note of the gigantic ninja weapons that each of his children carried on their backs, almost as if they were competing for who could carry the largest load and still be able to carry out their mission effectively and efficiently. Supressing a chuckle to himself, the Kazekage decided to carry on with the proceedings, getting straight to the point of the meeting, not that there was anything else they could have talked about, his relationship with his children was a fickle one, to say the least.

"You may or may not be aware of this, but the chuunin exams will be held in Konoha almost exactly twelve months from this date. Something else that you might not know, is that our economy has been suffering a steady but harmful decline over the years, The Wind Daimyo has lost faith in our village ever since the third shinobi world war and has been giving away missions that were suppposed to be assigned to and completed by us to other organisations, namely, our so called allies from Fire Country, Konohagakure no Sato..."

"Get to the point! I do not have the patience to listen to your problems, what does this have to do with us?" demanded Gaara, shocking both his siblings with the blatant disrespect to their father and leader.

"It has everthing to do with you! You are the Kazekage's children and the three of you will be participating in the chuunin exams that will be held in Konoha as a team!" explained the Kazekage.

"But..."

"Let me finish Temari! You may ask questions when I am done explaining, until then, you will listen to me! That goes for you too...Gaara!" demanded the Kazekage authoratively, leaving no room for argument.

Gaara knew better then to carry on antagonnizing the Kazekage, as much as he hated it, he knew he could not hope to defeat this man at his current level, he'd already tried and failed many times, mainly because the Kazekage had the ability to suppress shukaku's sand with his gold dust. The Kazekage, seeing that he had the siblings' undivided attention, continued on from where he left off.

Temari on the other hand kept taking nervous glances at her youngest brother, not liking the idea of being paired up with him at all. Don't get her wrong, she loved her little brother dearly, but that didn't mean that she wanted to spend so much time with him, as she inevitably would if she was in his team. Gaara was a walking time bomb and she honestly did not want to be anywhere near him when he exploded.

"The three of you have been trained seperately up until now, but your apprenticeship officially ends as of today. Temari, you may continue to train with Baki in your spare time, as can Kankuro with Chiyo-sama. Gaara...we can also continue our training in our spare time...but for the most part, you will all begin taking missions together in order to develop your teamwork." ordered the Kazekage.

"And who will be our jonin-sensei?" asked Gaara apethetically. The door opened almost as soon as Gaara voiced his question, causing the sand siblings to turn around simultaneously, each adopting an alert stance.

"No need to be alarmed, I'm just here to meet my cute little students! My name is Pakura, and I will be your jonin-sensei for the foreseable and unforseable future!" exclaimed the young girl now identified as Pakura with a peace sign and a goofy smirk. She is a gorgeous 16 year old girl with green hair tied up in a bun on top of her head with a needle running through it and two locks of hair with orange tips framing each side of her face. She has smooth, creamy skin with pupiless brown eyes, wearing the female version of the standard jonin atire of Sunagakure no Sato, complete with a light brown coloured flak-jacket.

"..."

"..."

"..."

"Are you serious? This...this idiot is our Jonin-Sensei?" asked Gaara with an even voice, traces of incredulity hower filtering into his tone.

"I do not mean to be rude...but I'm inclined to agree with him, Father" said Temari with a focused expression on her face, trying to analyze the young girl in front of her that did not look much older than she was.

"Be careful Temari...Pakura is the most powerful Jonin that I have under my command, even stronger than your sensei! It would be in your own interest for you not to underestimate her!" warned the Kazekage, shocking the sand siblings with his blunt honesty, Temari more so than the others, her knowing more than anyone just how strong Baki was. She was his apprentice afterall.

"M-Masaka! She couldn't be more than just four years older than me, how could she be stronger than someone as established and elite as Baki-Sensei?" exclaimed Temari in surprise.

If Pakura was offended, than she was very good at hiding her emotions, her only reaction being only to stick her toungue out at the Kazekage's daughter petulantly while giving her an arrogant smirk.

"You should know better than to judge shinobi on such fickle things, for all we know, there could be someone out there younger than even Gaara but stronger than even me! Your reaction is unbecoming of an elite kunoichi...Temari!" chastized the Kazekage.

"H-hai! Gomenasai, otou-sama! I have learned my lesson, it won't happen again!" apologised Temari shamefully, cursing herself for making such a rooky mistake, especially in front of her father of all people.

"Do not be too hard on yourself Temar-chan, there is a reason why I have been chosen to be your sensei..."

"And what would that reason be, besides your supposed status as the so called strongest person under the Kazekage's command?" demanded Gaara.

"Pakura has a unique set of skills that will benefit all three of you, but more so, you and your sister..." trailed off the Kazekage, pausing slightly for dramatic effect.

"What are these skills?" asked Gaara with a small frown, unable to contain his curiosity.

"She is a five star master of the wind and fire elements because of her strong affinities for said elements and consequently, is able to harness the rare ability to merge the two elements, creating the **scorch release kekkei genkei**!" explained the Kazekage to the surprise of his children and subrordinates, taking silent pleasure in the awed expressions on their faces while also taking pride in being able to break Gaara's emotionless mask, even if only for a few seconds.

"N-No way...! Y-you possess that ability?" exclaimed Kankuro in disbelief.

"Yes she does Kankuro! She is a true ninjutsu prodigy, that is why I have chosen her for the three of you, she will be able to help you all improve! Temari, Baki has taught you well, but it is time to take things a step further, Baki has only taught you how to cut with the wind, but Pakura can teach you so much more about the wind element..."trailed off the Kazekage.

"What do you mean...father? What could she teach me that Baki-Sensei couldn't?" asked Temari with a confused expression.

"I'll take it from here...with your permission of course, Kazekage-sama?" interupted Pakura, discarded her childish persona momentarily, she almost sounded like a completely different person, like she really was as dangrous and elite as the Kazekage said she was.

"Of course, be my guest!" was all the Kazekage said.

"Thank you." said Pakura respectfully.

"Temari, I'll start with you..." said Pakura, making sure that she had the young kunoichi's undivided attention before carying on where she left off.

"Hai Pakura-Sensei...?" questioned Temari. Pakura, seeing that she had the wind mistress's attention, carried on where she had left off.

"Up until now, you have been learning only how to use your wind element as a sharp blade, in other words, you have only been learning how to cut with your wind. I know this because that is Baki's specialty and limit. There is however more to wind release than just cutting, there are other ways to use fuuton chakra, you can use pressure techniques by controlling the wind resistance and pressure in the atmosphere or you can use vacuum or void techniques by sucking up the air from the atmosphere. Baki, at his level does not have the proficiency to teach you these things, but I can." explained Pakura matter of factly, stifling a chuckle at the imaginary or rather figurative stars that had taken the place of Temari's eyes.

"S-sugoi! I never thought that there were so many things one can do with fuuton chakra! Are you really going to teach me all that?" asked Temari enthusiastically, showing a rare childish excitement that neither her father or her siblings could claim to have seen too often.

"Hai, that is what I plan to..." said Pakura simply.

"That is interesting and all, but what could you possibly teach me?" inerupted Gaara with a monotone voice, although traces of curiosity and anticipatiom could be detected if one listened very carefully.

"Oh yes...Gaara right? Well...correct me if I am wrong Gaara, but Shukuka is known for its powerful wind pressure techniques, right?" asked Pakura rhetorically, but expecting a response from the ten 11 year old redhead regardless. Gaara on the other hand simply nodded his head at the young Jonin, impatiently waiting for her to get to the point. He didn't care that she spoke about Shukaku, heck he didn't even care if she hated him or not, as long as she could make him stronger, that was fine with him, he'd kill her later when he no longer had a use for her. It would be a good way to verify his existence if he managed to kill her, especiallu If she really was the strongest Jonin in Suna.

"And are you, at your current level able to use any ninjutsu that does not revolve around your sand?" asked Pakura.

"No, what is your point?" asked Gaara defensively.

"Well, as Shukaku's vessel, you should have a strong affinity for wind release, and should find wind pressure techniques all the more easier to master. So, effectively, I will become your fuuton ninjutsu teacher while you learn more sand techniques from your father in your spare time." explained Pakura, waiting patiently to see if the Ichibi Jinchuuriki had anymore questions.

"If that is all you have to offer, than you are just as useless as I thought you were. My sand is more than enough for me, I just need to find a way to negate the Kazekage's gold dust and I will become invincible." argued Gaara with conviction.

"Wrong! Pakura is more than capable of supressing you...Gaara! She is a master of the **scorch release **you imbecile! She'll turn all of your sand into glass and you'll be left a sitting duck! Did you not listen in class when they taught chemistry and physics!" shouted the Kazekage furiously.

"So that's why you chose her! This is another assassination attempt?" accused Gaara with hateful eyes directed at his father. The Yondaime smacked his hand against his head in exasperation, realising that, in hind sight, he should have anticipated this kind of reaction.

"That is not it either, believe it or not, Kazekage-sama really is trying to help you here! By training with me, you can learn how to fight against someone whose strength just so happens to be your sand's weakness. We can be able to find weak points in your fighting style and then find alternate means for battle. We want to help you to harness the full power of the Ichibi, and to do that, you need to be able to master all of its strengths and make provision for its weaknesses. That is why we want you to learn and master Fuuton, and that is also why we want you to spar with me, so that you can learn and adapt, so that you can master the Ichibi." explained Pakura ernestly, a soft expression taking over her facial features.

"...Hn! Fine! But if you find out that you're trying to kill me...?" trailed off Gaara maliciously, extending an open-ended threat to the young jonin.

"Alright! That's more than I can I ask for at this point in time, I just wanted you to give me a chance! We're gonna do great things together!" replied Pakura with a friendly smile, a mixture of relief and excitement creeping into her persona.

"Well... Now that that's settled..." started the Kazekage, only to be interupted by his eldest son.

"Wait a minute, what about me? What am I gonna learn from you?" whined Kankuro.

"Oh yes...you...ehehehe! Sorry, almost forgot about you there sport..." apologised Pakura incincerely, causing Kankuro to twitch irritably.

"B-bitch! You did that on purpose didn't you?" asked Kankuro furiously.

"Hmmmm...sorry, but I can't honestly say that I know what you're talking about." said Pakura, shrugging her shoulders nonchalantly.

"Aaaaargh...!"

"Stop messing with him Pakura, you know he has a short fuse! Just tell him already!" ordered the Kazekage.

"Oh alright! Spoil sport!" whined Pakura with a childish pout.

"Pakura...!"

"Okay okay! Geez, look who has a short fuse now!" retorted Pakura, the Kazekage trying with all his mind not to fall for her trap, but finding it very difficult himself, his eyebrow twitching furiously.

"Just tell him already!" snapped the Kazekage.

"Okay! Listen, I know you're a puppeteer, but I'm gonna teach you a little ninjutsu that I think will aid you with your puppet techniques. I'm going to teach you the basics of wind and fire manipulation. What we're gonna do is this, we're gonna seal that nature chakra into special storage seals that will be attached to your puppets' limbs. The seals can store nature chakra and than release it in a pressurized form! This is a forbidden technique that was created by Akasuna no Sasori, he is a traitor, but that does not mean we should let such powerful techniques go to waste." said Pakura, causing Kankuro to smirk at the young Jonin's words, a satisfied expression visible through even his facepaint.

"You know what, that doesn't sound bad at all, I was worried there for a second, thought you'd try to get me to stop being a puppeteer." joked Kankuro.

"Wouldn't dream of it!" retorted Pakura with a playful smirk.

"Father...I am greatful that you have organised this opportunity for us, but you rarely do anything without an agenda...so...why are you doing this for us?" asked Temari, trying to maintain a respectful and grateful demeanor so as not to offend the Kazekage.

"Nothing ever flies past you does it, Temari? Nevertheless, your anology is spot on, there is a motive behind all of this, I tried to explain to you earlier before we were rudely interupted!" said the Kazekage, giving Pakura an accusatory stare that made her fidget nervously in her place.

"Listen carefully my dear children...this is the reality of the situation...Suna is suffering from an economic crisis, mainly because of what I told you earlier, the Wind Daimyo has lost faith in us and has, for a very long time now been redirecting missions that were meant for us to Konoha. As a resultt, I have asked Pakura to do her best to turn the three of you into what will be by far the strongest genin team in the elemental nations by the time the chuunin exams begin in Konoha, roughly twelve months from this day. Many important people, the Wind Daimyo included will be watching these exams, especially when they are being hosted by what many believe to still be the strongest shinobi nation..." trailed off the Kazekage, taking a deep breathe to regain his breathe, the three siblings each giving him their most undivided attention.

"Your mission is simple, crush anyone that gets in your way during the exams and make sure you win the tournament! We need all of you to make it to the finals and we need at least one of you to win the tournament. People will judge Sunagakure by what the three of you show them in these exams, and if you impress, or better yet, win the tournament, than the Daimyo and other important digntaries will be forced to re-evaluate their opinions on Suna. Suna's hopes rest on your shoulders, I'm counting on you..." said the Kazekage, the tone of his voice making the gravity of the situation unmistakeable.

"I will win this tournament and verify my existense!" said Gaara with determination and conviction. It wasnt't that he loved Sunagakure or its people, but he still had his pride, people everywhere would recognise him as the Kazekage's child and a Suna shinobi, even if he were to go rogue, they would still call him 'Gaara of the Sand' and he would still be a 'Suna' missing nin, there was no way to absolve himself of his roots and heritage. That, besides verifying his existence, was why he so desperately wanted to win this tournament, if they didn't do well in this tournament and Suna lost all power and respect, than he would also lose his respect by association, and that was something he would never allow.

"Don't worry father, we'll win this tournament and verify Suna's strength..." said Kankuro

"We are after all, the Yondaime Kazekage's children!" said Temari, closing off Kankuro's sentence.

_'They seem to have found their resolve as a team, maybe there is hope for us yet!' _Thought Pakura, the Kazekage also sharing the same thoughts as her as he prepared to dismiss the new team, only to be interupted by a bang as Baki came budging through the door and into the office.

"What is the meaning of this Baki? Speak now or forever hold your peace!" threatened the Kazekage, apalled by the elite jonin's uncharacteristic disregard for standard protocol and the blatant lack of respect for his office.

"Forgive me Kazekage-sama! But I have an important delivery! It concernes an urgent matter of utmost importance!" said Baki hastily, placing a small, black box in front on the Kazekage's desk. The Kazekage gazed at the black box with a scrutinizing stare, staring particularly at the words _'open me' _that were written on the lid of the box.

"What is this...?" asked the Kazekage suspiciously, honestly, he couldn't recall ever receiving such kind of a delivery, especially one that was supposedly of such importance. Standard procedure mandated that an important delivery be sealed within a storage scroll that could only be openned with the Kazekage's seal, this was just too fishy for his liking, and that was saying something, considering that they were in the desert far away from water.

"Sir! We have been presented with an opportunity that can reverse the downward spiral that Suna has been subjected to, all you have to do is open the..." Baki was was unable to conclude what he wanted to say, finding himself wrapped in gold dust from neck to toe in the blink of an eye, his eyes wide in surprise at the Kazekage's actions.

**"Gold Dust Coffin!" **whispered the Kazekage harshly.

"K-Kazekage-sama/Father!" exclaimed Baki and Temari simultaneously, surprise and fear written all over their faces, both fearing for Baki's life.

"Who are you, imposter?" asked the Kazekage maliciously, right hand stetched towards the cacooned Baki with his hand wide open and prepared to curl into a tight fist, causing Temari's eyes to widen even further, knowing exactly what would happen to Baki if her father went through with that hand motion.

"K-Kazekage-sama, it is I, I'm not an..."

"Oh please give it a rest already, Kazekage-sama has been friends with Baki since their genin days when they used to be in the same genin team. If he thinks you're an imposter, than you're definitely an imposter!" shouted Pakura in exasperation.

"You have no respect for your superiors, did you really think that you could fool the Kazekage with such a parlour trick?" asked the Kazekage with feigned conviction, truth is, he was rather confused and unsure himself. He, like his son with his sand, had the ability to sence presences that were in contact with his gold dust, this...imposter somehow managed to replicate Baki's body and chakra signature to perfection, if he didn't know Baki so well, he would never have seen through his disguise. Nevertheless, it was important that he didn't give away even a hint of his doubt, lest his enemy use that against him.

**"Hehehe! Ehehehe! This was unexpected, they say Suna is one of the weaker if not the weakest of the big five, but you have more than impressed me today, Kazekage-dono!" **replied Baki in a very different voice, one that sounded far more sinister and borderline demonic, although still slightly recogniseable as Baki's voice.

"Who are you, who sent you, and what do you want?" asked the Kazekage monotously.

**"Who am I...well...I am just someone who has borrowed Baki's body for the time being, if you want him back, then you'll listen to what I have to say!" **said the voice that was now confirmed to be inhabiting Baki's body.

"A mind transfer technique...? You're from Konoha's Yamanaka clan aren't you? What is the meaning of this! Has Konoha betrayed us?" asked Pakura furiously, eyes narrowed in anger and hate. Temari, Gaara, and Kankuro's eyes were wide in surprise at the proceeding events, awed by the abilities of the Yamanaka clan and filled with a little trepidition at the possibility of going to war with Konoha, mixed with excitement on Gaara's part.

**"W-wow! You Suna shinobi are quite knowledgeable, to have figured out my jutsu so quickly is simply outstanding...but...you're wrong, I'm not a konoha shinobi nor am I a member of the Yamanaka clan of Konoha, but yes, I do have in debth knowledge of mind techniques." **replied the imposter.

_'I was unable to detect any lies, not even with my gold dust? Than...he really isn't a konoha shinobi...but who is he...and what does he want with Suna...?'_ Thought the Yondaime Kazekage.

"You said that you would give back Baki if we listened to what you have to say, we're listening..." trailed off the Yondaime Kazekage.

**"A wise decision on your part, Kazekage-dono. First of all, you may from this point forward call me 'Ido', that is the name that I am known by..." **said Ido, pausing slightly for dramatic effect.

**"Now, I hail from a new hidden village known as Otogakure no Sato, the founder and leader of this village is Orochimaru Of The Densetsu no Sannin...!" **trailed off Ido dramatically, pausing once again, this time to give her audience the chance to digest the no doubt shocking and disturbing news.

"Orochimaru of the Legendary Three Ninja...has his own hidden village!?" asked Pakura in surprise.

"Let me guess, you want to ally yourself with one of the Five Great Elemental Nations for protection and security in your early years of development. Furthermore, you want to use Orochimaru's status as a Legendary figure in order to lure us into this agreement and you've targeted us because you think we need this alliance more than the other members of the big five." theorized the Kazekage.

**"Hmmm...interesting analogy, but for the most part completely wrong. Yes...it is true that Orochimaru's name carries a lot of weight, but we do not need your protection! In fact, we have the power and the means to help you turn around Suna's spiraling downfall, we have some...gifts that we want to extend to you...in exchange for a treaty alliance and a small little favor in return...a favor that would benefit you in the short and long run anyway should you keep your end of the bargain." **Explained Ido with a sinister smirk, knowing that the Suna contingent would be interested no matter how much they distrusted her, no matter how suspicious her actions up until now were, because they were just that desperate.

"Alright...let us hear what you have to say..."

"Let's just kill him Kazekage-sama, Baki will be a great loss, but you can't possibly believe anything this Ido person says! This could just be a trap, or a trick! It's almost like making a deal with the devil! We can't possibly trust him, he tried to trick us not more than five minutes ago!" protested Pakura.

"I'm aware of all the possibilities Pakura, but I also know in my capacity as a shinobi, that jumping to conclusions and making hasty decisions is never a good idea. We don't have to decide anything yet, let us first hear what he has to say." lectured the Yondaime in a sage like manner, extending his experience and wisdom to one of his potential successor, or rather, four of his potential successors if his children are to be considered, even though the idea of Gaara taking over after his death terrified him, he still believed there was hope for his son, he couldn't bring himself to believe otherwise. Sure he'd sent assassins after him, but he had also trained him, he never sent people after him that he didn't believe Gaara could handle. if he'd really wanted to kill him, he would have sent Pakura after him, or simply done it himself. He just wanted Gaara to grow strong and master the Shukaku, so that he could one day protect Suna and his siblings

**"A wise decision Kazekage-dono! I can see why they chose you to succeed the Sandaime Kazekage, you really are worthy of the title of Kage!" **praised Ido, trying to lighten the tension for the oncoming negotiations.

"Thank you, but flattery will do nothing for my village, I'm more interested in the retrieval of my subordinate that you captured and these gifts that you spoke of..." trailed off the Kazekage, indicating that the negotiations have officially begun.

**"So you want to proceed with negotiations huh...problem is, I'm not qualified to make any binding agreements on behalf of the village, you'll have to speak to someone more higher up than me for that, I'm just the messenger!" **replied Ido.

"That sounds reasonable, so...I assume you want to re-schedule a meeting date, time, and place?" asked the Kazekage.

**"That will not be neccessary Kazekage-dono...if if you would open the black box, than you would have the means to make direct communication with our Head Of Safety and Security, who is also our Jonin Commander!" **explained Ido.

_'So that's what the box was for...' _Thought Pakura.

"I see...Gaara, prepare your absolute defense, you too...Pakura, Temari, Kankuro, make sure you're ready for anything! This could still be a trap!" ordered the Kazekage.

"Hai Kazekage-sama/Otou-sama/Father!" saluted Pakura, Kankuro, and Temari respectively, each adopting their fighting stances, Kankuro unwrapping his puppet and attaching chakra strings to the weapon while Temari unfurled her battle fan all the way to three stars. Pakura on the other hand molded hand seals for her scorch release, ending with her right hand placed against her lips in a funnel shape. Gaara, as usual did not bother to respond, but the cork to his gourd did pop out as sand flew out of the container, circulating the space around his body viciously.

The Kazekage, seeing that everyone was prepared, opened the black box with his gold dust only for his eyes to widen in horror!

"I-Impossible...this is..."

**"The Hiraishin no Jutsu! All you have to do is to throw that kunai and the Jonin Commander will appear! He is already expecting you to call on him." **cut in Ido, stopping the Yondaime mid-sentence.

"B-but...!"

**"But the Yellow Flash was supposed to have died 11 years ago during the Kyubi's assault on Konoha? True, but we have the second coming of the yellow flash in Oto, his son...Uzumaki Namikaze Naruto! Ahahahahahaha! Ahahahaha! Ehehehe!" **exclaimed Ido with mad elation, basking in the fear, confusion, and horror that her words had caused within the Suna contingent.

"W-wait a minute! We know about Uzumaki Naruto of Konoha, we know he is the Yondaime Hokage's secret son, and container of the Kyubi, but our spies have reported that he has shown no real shinobi talent and is in fact dead last in his class. He has even failed the academy exam three times already! What you said can't be true...unless...unlesss...!" exclaimed Pakura hysterically.

"Unless the one in Konoha is an imposter!" concluded the Kazekage in realisation.

"It makes a lot of sense come to think of it, I've always wondered how in the pits of hell the son of the greatest shinobi I've ever known and the Heiress of the Uzumaki clan could be so weak! More so considering his jinchuuriki status, but I can't help but wonder, why would the son of the Yondaime Hokage betray Konoha? This, all of this just seems too suspicious to me, is this some kind of trick by Konoha to test our loyalty, or some elaborate plan to destroy us?" thought the Kazekage out loud.

**"You said it yourself, the Yondaime Hokage's son is a jinchuuriki just like your son. If Gaara were to betray Suna after everything the village has put him through, would you be surprised that he did? Would it even qualify as a betrayal, could it not be said that rather, Suna had betrayed Gaara since the day he was born?" **asked Ido rhetorically, causing the Suna contingent, apart from Gaara to all bow their heads in shame and contemplation.

**"Naruto-kun might have stayed in Konoha and endured the pain had it only affected him, but he found someone precious to him when he was still a young boy. And that girl was facing the same kind of hardship and pain that he was going through. In order to protect her, in order to give her a chance at a happy life, Naruto realised that he would have to leave Konoha with her and find a place that would be more accepting of people like them, and he found that place in Otogakure no Sato, a place that they could be acknowledged as shinobi and not just as monsters, a place that would allow them to harness their true potential. In Oto, they made new friends and found more precious people, more loved ones. But Naruto-kun knows that he can't live his life hiding forever, one day he will be discovered, and Konoha will stop at nothing to capture him and retrieve their military weapon, that's why he has made it his goal to destroy Konoha and assassinate the Sandaime Hokage, so that they can never pose a threat to him or his family ever again!" **said Ido, taking a small breathe to give the Suna contingent a chance to process her words.

**"This goal is shared by our leader, Orochimaru also wants to destroy Konoha and kill his former sensei! This is what binds our Commander and Leader in their rule of Oto. Oto has the military strength to go toe to toe with Konoha in battle, but we don't want to leave anything to chance. We want to guarantee our success, that is why we want to ally ourselves with you and your village, Kazekage-dono. We want to destroy Konoha during the chuunin exams, but they will not expect you, their allies to attack them, rather, they would expect you to help them defend their walls, the surprise that your aid will provide will secure our victory against Konoha. Think carefully about this before you decide Kazekage-dono, are you really allies with Konoha, or are you just slaves on a leash? What has Konoha done to help your village, do you even think for one second that it is a coincidense that the Wind Daimyo is giving away your missions to Konoha? Do you think that Konoha are not aware of this, or behind this?" **asked the Ido rhetorically, allowing the Kazekage to come to his own conclusions.

"I'm not stupid! I'm already aware of everything that you have said, but what do you want me to do? Go to war with them? That, up until now has not been an option, they are too powerful and resourceful for us to handle on our own, our country has never been the same since Sasori's betrayal and the Sandaime-sama's disappearance! We have never truly recovered from that blow!" said the Kazekage, his words causing a knowing smirk to appear on Ido/Baki's face.

**"Orochimaru is a former member of an organisation that I believe your village has had dealings with in the past, Kazekage-dono...I believe you know of the Akatsuki do you not?" **asked Ido, causing the Kazekage to narrow his eyes in suspicion.

"And what would you do if I said I do?" asked the Yondaime non-commitedly

**"Well, as it so happens, Orochimaru was partnered with Akasuna no Sasori while he was involved with this organisation, in other words, we have significant intel on Sasori and we know about his human puppet technique. Orochimaru once said that Chiyo-sama had a scroll containing the prototype of Sasori's puppet technique. I'm not supposed to mention this, this was something Naruto was supposed to present to you himself, but the gifts I spoke of earlier are the bodies of the 1st and 2nd Hokage! We were thinking that with Chiyo's puppet and medical knowledge, and the prototype scroll Sasori's that she obtained before his defection, that your son, Kankuro could one day wield the 1st and 2nd Hokage as his puppets! We would give you the Second Hokage now as a sign of faith and the First Hokage after the invasion and annihilation of Konoha as a thank you! That is, if you agree to the alliance!" **said Ido.

**"Think about it Kazekage-dono, how much money does Suna spend on buying water and wood from other countries...from Fire Counrty? With the Second Hokage, you could cut Suna's budget on water supplies to zero, you could simply use the Second Hokage to create underground and cave water systems. That money that would have been used on water can be used to stabilize your economy. And when the time comes that we give you the First Hokage, you wouldn't have to buy fruits, vegetables, wood, medical and poisonous herbs or other such products and beverages anymore, you could simply produce them yourself. Kankuro would also be able to help Gaara to master and subdue the Shukaku with the First Hokage's powers. Not only that, but in Kankuro, you would have a legitimate successor as the Kazekage, as with Chiyo's training, and with two Kage Puppets, Kankuro would surely be a good candidate! Kazekage-dono, all of you have to do is to swear yours and Suna's loyalty to us and help us invade and destroy Konoha during the chuunin exams that will be held in Konoha a year from now. With Konoha's destruction, the Wind Daimyo will have no choice but to provide for Suna like he was always meant to." **proposed Ido with a slippery toungue worthy of her demonic status.

"The First and Second Hokage's powers...? You would give away that kind of power just for an alliance? Why do I find that so hard to believe...really, why would a ninja village give away such kind of power and not harness it instead to boost their own strength? Do you really take me for that much of a fool!" asked the Fourth indignantly, adopting an angry and insulted facial expression.

**"Hmmm...you ask a lot of questions you know, sometimes it is wise not to look a gift horse in the mouth! Nevertheless let me say this, we have already harnessed the Second Hokage's cells and powers, in fact, we have a shinobi in training that is now, thanks to his genetic composition and our science devision, able to utilize the Second's powers. We are however having a little problem regarding the First's cells, that is part of the reason we have postponed the transfer of ownership. We want to harness these powers first for ourselves before we give them to you, and we have calculated that we should have found a solution by the time the chuunin exams commence in Konoha. At that point, ownership of the First's Body will be transfered to Suna, off course, only after the invasion." **explained Ido.

"I see...you guys are very smart...and you've thought this out thoroughly haven't you. These gifts, you're not just handing them over to help Suna are you? I mean come on...the Kazekage's eldest son using the Second Hokage's body during the chuunin exams? Or any other time for that matter...? That would be an outright declaration of war against Konoha, an insult to their pride, history, and heritage! These are not just gifts to us, this is your insurance! You want to make sure that our relationship with Konoha is permanently damaged, that we won't switch sides at the last minute and betray you in favor of Konoha and that Konoha will never forgive or trust us again! At the same time, we will be in debted to you for the radical but positive changes your gifts will create in Suna, Kankuro will become a strong candidate for Kazekage, and possibly one of, if not the strongest shinobi in the history of the elemental nations, Gaara will be able to master Shukaku with the help of the First Hokage's powers, and we will never have to expend our monetary resources on water, wood, herbs etc. And since Fire Country was our main supplier, this would cause them to lose a lot of money while we gain just as much if not more so..." said the Kazekage, pausing slightly to regain his breathe.

"All in all, you would have effectively put us in a situation where we would be forever in your debt! You're not even worried about how much power you have given us, because you have the nine tails jinchuuriki whereas we have the Ichibi, you will have also harnessed the powers of both the first and second for yourselfves anyway and you also have the **Flying Thunder God Technique. **Kami knows what other sources of power you have that you're not telling us about." said the Kazekage, using his gold dust to launch the Kunai into the space behind Ido/Baki straight towards the door...

"Let us begin the Suna/Oto treaty negotians..."

**6 Months Later**

_**Konohagakure no Sato**_

"Ladies and gentlement today's meeting is to discuss the matter of the chuunin exams that all of you should know by now, will be hosted right in our own backyard six months from now! But before we discuss that, we will begin with the matter of the academy graduation...are there any Jonin amongst you that would like to take a genin team from this year's batch of graduates? Please step forward, those of you that are interested..." said Sarutobi Hiruzen, the Sandaime Hokage, not beating about the bush at all as he began this week's jonin meeting, going straight to the point in an instant.

Four figures immediately stepped forward, one of them a legendary figure known to have copied over one thousand jutsu, Hatake Kakashi, a man with silver grey gravity defying hair with a forehead protector going across his head and completely covering his left eye. The man is fairly tall and is dressed in the standard Konoha jonin outfit and a brown kunai pouch wrapped around his right leg.

Next to him is the Sandaime Hokage's very own son, Asuma Sarutobi, a tall, well built man with brown eyes, spiky black hair and a black beared to go with it. He is wearing the standard Konoha Jonin uniform with halfway rolled upp sleeves, and a **12 Ninja Guardian **sash wrapped around his waist.

And on Asuma's right hand side is Yuhi Kurenai, a very beautiful woman with black shoulder-length, untaimed hair and unique but beautiful eyes that are red in colour with an extra ring in them. She is wearing make-up consisting of red lipstick and black eyeshadow. Her outfit consists of a red mesh armour blouse with only the right sleeeve visible and a broad material resembling bandages with a patern similar to that of rose thorns worn over it. She's also wearing the Konoha forehead protector on her foreheadand also has bandages wrapped around her hands and thighs.

And last but not least...on Kurenai's right hand side, is non-other than the A.N.B.U commander himself, Uchiha Itachi, not having changed much since the Uchiha Massacre, apart from his height and the more pronounced tear troughs running down his cheeks perhaps, and a longer pony tail. He is wearing a black, turtle-necked t-shirt with a silver-grey standard A.N.B.U armour on top, black shinobi pants and black ninja sandals with a tanto strapped to his back. On his right thigh is a blue kunai pouch and the Konoha Forehead protector wrapped around his forehead.

"Itachi...what are you doing?" asked the Sandaime with a suspicious frown.

"You asked if there were any jonin that were interested in taking in a genin team this year, and I have stepped forward as a jonin that is interested in grooming the next generation of Konoha shinobi." stated Itachi monotously, shocking everyone that was present in the hall, except for only two other individuals, one of the clan heads, Hyuga Hiashi, and one of the village honourable elders, Shimura Danzo.

"Itachi...what's going on? You know you can't take any students under your tutorship, you're in the A.N.B.U! And the commander no less, how do you plan to make this work?" demanded Sarutobi authoratively, not liking what was transpiring before his eyes at all, and not without reason either.

It all started with Uchiha Madara's betrayal, than the Kyubi's assualt 11 years ago, which lead to the isolation of the Uchiha clan followed by the Uchiha rebellion and Massacre, and followed by Uchiha Mikoto's death. It was barely noticeable, but Itachi changed after the Uchiha Massacre. Before than, he'd been more open to others and shared informattion with the village higher ups willingly. He'd been a boy whose heart was overflowing with the will of fire and loved his village more than anything, apart from maybe his little brother.

After the Massacre, Itachi's attitude took a drastic change, he became closed off and secretive, avoiding conversations with the higher ups or anyone outside of Hyuga Hiashi and his family unless absolutely neccessary. He stopped sharing information about his abilities even with his comrades and teammates, even going as far as to complete missions on his own, without the aid of his comrades.

As if this wasn't bad enough, Mikoto started showing symptoms identical to those that his ex-lover, Masaki showed prior to her death, and upon medical examination, was revealed to have contracted the same virus that had killed Masaki. It was also revealed that, just like it had been with Masaki, that the virus had been dorment within Mikoto for eight months already. With this information, it became clear to Itachi that this was Shishui's doing, that he had already struck a killing blow on his mom even before the Uchiha Massacre.

Itachi, not wanting to feel the pain of losing a loved one again, and worried about the mental and emotional trauma his little brother could go through had worked tirelessly to find Tsunade, the only person he knew that could have helped his mother. It didn't help that his mother only had 8 days to live by the time the examinations on her had been completed.

He'd begged the Sandaime to dispense some of his subordinates to help him find Tsunade, asking that Inuzuka Tsume, Abuame Shibi and Hyuga Hiashi be allowed to help him in his quest. Unfortunately, with the time constraints and the bad weather conditions for tracking, they had not been able to find Tsunade in time, and Itachi had been forced to return on the fifth day, a three day travel back home allowing him to make it back to spend the last two ours of Mikoto's life with her in the privacy of the Uchiha Compound.

After that event, Mikoto had entrusted her eyes to Itachi, allowing him to obtain the Eternal Mangyeko Sharingan, asking for one favor in return, that he and Sasuke should love and protect each other no matter what happens and that they should rebuild a strong and united Uchiha Clan. Itachi had promised his mother and was trying by all means to live up to the promise.

But things were not easy, he and Sasuke did not get along at all! They had very different views on what should be done, Sasuke was frustrated by Itachi's passiveness, accusing Itachi of not loving the clan and even their mother as much as he should have, noting Itachi's stance against the persuit of revenge against Shishui as absolute proof of the truth in his accussations.

Itachi however could not tell Sasuke that he knew why Shishui killed the clan nor could he even say that he, to a certain extent, agreed with Shishui. To Itachi, Shishui was a savior of many lives, and a hero of the clan, because without his sacrifice, than the whole Uchiha clan would have been wiped out. Enemy nations would have taken advantage of the civil war, with a possible result being the complete extinction of the Uchiha and Konoha for that matter. At least, as things were, they could rebuild the Uchiha clan, Sasuke was alive and safe, and Konoha was still standing, better than the alternative definitely if you asked him.

Of course, Itachi was still human and thus had to face the conflict of emotion, rationalizing what happened did not stop him from loathing Shishui, the bastard did kill his lover and precious mother after all, and even tried to kill Sasuke! He truly didn't know if he would not try to kill Shishui if they met again. On the other hand, Sasuke seemed to be living solely for revenge and made every single decision in his life based on how much closer said decision would get him to that goal, and it didn't take a genius to know how unhealthy such a mentally was. The boy had even gone as far as to refuse Itachi's help in training, saying that he would never accept help from a coward who would not even try to avenge their clan, and even worse, their beloved mother.

As can be exected, Sasuke's rejection was perhaps Itachi's greatest source of pain, he'd never thought things could ever turn out like they were now, they were like strangers to each other, even though they lived in the same house, with Sasuke refusing to talk to him unless absolutely neccessary.

Telling Sasuke the truth about what happened would probably be the ethical thing to do, as Sasuke really deserved to know the truth about what happened, because otherwise he would be living a complete lie. But Itachi knew without a shadow of a doubt that Sasuke would turn against Konoha in the blink of an eye if he ever found out the truth, in the end it was better that Sasuke continue on this path than the alternative, at least, he would be gauranteed success, since Shishui planned on dying by either Sasuke's or Itachi's hand anyway, whereas Konoha would not extend to him the same curtousy.

Itachi tried to hide it, and did well at hiding it too, but Hiruzen knew deep down that Itachi had never seen the village in the same light since his mother's death, Mikoto's death had been the breaking point. Itachi disliked Tsunade and maybe even the Senju-clan as a whole, that was certain! He may not have said it, he may not have even shown it, but Hiruzen knew, the signs were small, but they were there. The slight twitch of the eye when the slug sannin's name was mentioned, the clenched fists when the Senju-clan was praised for its strength and 'compassion', the look of disgust in his eyes when people prayed for Tsunade's return to cure their ailments. It wasn't something obvious, but to those who payed enough attention, it was clear that Itachi did not have a good opinion of the Senju Princess and her kinsman. Not since the Uchiha Massacre, and definitely not since his mother's death.

_'But at least he is still loyal to Konoha as a whole...though how long that may last is debateable! I can't even judge how strong he truly is, no one seems to know the limits of his powers outside his intelligence, the sharingan and his elemental affinities. He has lost many loved ones, there is no way that someone of his clalibre hasn't awakened the mangyeko sharingan after such a traumatic event...is he hiding his abilities or has he simply not needed to use them in battle yet...? And if he is hiding them...why exactly is he hiding them?'_ thought Hiruzen in frustration.

"I know that A.N.B.U are not permitted to take genin teams, that is why I have retired from the A.N.B.U division and elected a successor as commander! As we speak, the new commander is aquinting himself with his new office and the paper work is being delivered to your office for confirmation. As of today, I am a simple Jonin of Konoha and will hopefully, become a jonin sensei by the end of the day." explained Itachi with a straight face and flat voice, showing no emotion at all, it was almost like talking to an android.

"Who is this replacement and why have you made such a decision without my permission? Is this not an act of insubordination...Itachi?" asked the Hokage furiously, blasting the young Uchiha with his overbearing KI. Even some of the most hardened Jonins, elders included felt the full force of the Sandaime's KI, struggling to stop their knees from buckling under their own weight. It was at times like these that everyone remembered just who exactly they were dealing with, that behind the kind, friendly old man, was a powerful and ruthless killer who has survived two shinobi wars and countless battles, times like these made them realize just how priviledged they were to be in the same room as the god of shinobi.

Itachi however held on firmly to his calm persona, not even flinching under the pressure. If he was feeling the pressure, than he certainly didn't show it, staring back at the Hokage with his patent, intense gaze.

"I have elected Tenzo as the new Jonin Commander! As you no doubt already know, with his unique talents and A.N.B.U upbringing, there is no one more suited for the job. It is my right as A.N.B.U Commander to elect and recruite members for A.N.B.U positions and I have simply excercised that right. Besides...you still have the option to ratify that decision...or not to ratify it, that is why the paperwork has been delivered to your office after all...Sandaime-sama." replied Itachi monotously, showing no fear in the presence of his superior, with absolute confidence in himself.

The Sandaime could not help but to frown in concern and frustration, frustrated because it seemed that Itachi, as usual, was one step ahead of him and planned everything out to perfection. The boy could have done all of this before the meeting, he could have told him about his retirement and the subsequent election of a replacement beforehand, in the privacy of his office, but he didn't, he chose to do it publicly in a jonin meeting no less. Hiruzen wasn't stupid, he knew exactly why the boy did this, the boy did not want to give him the chance to refuse him and deny him of this opportunity, because in front of everyone, Hiruzen wouldn't be able to deny the boy his wish without losing face with the other jonin. Itachi was the best jonin in the village and he had the respect and love of many Konoha shinobi, the fact that someone like him was willing to sacrifice such an esteemed rank in order to nurture and groom the next generation would be seen as something honorable of him and good for the future of Konoha.

To Hiruzen however, this was a worst case cenario, if Itachi groomed a genin team successfully, than he would officially qualify as a candidate for the title of Hokage, something that Hiruzen had been trying for years with all his might to prevent. Itachi reminded him too much of Orochimaru, a person who used to be a kind and loving boy, lost his parents, and than became shrouded in darkness and secrecy, isolating himself from other people with behavior patterns that were hard to identify and explain by even members of the Yamanaka-clan. Even worse, the boy is a member of the Uchiha-clan that tried to overthrow the higher-ups and wrestle control of the village not too long ago.

_'Looks like I have no choice but to wave this off...for now!' _thought Hiruzen.

"Hmmm...fare enough! You have excercised your rights and not acted out of insubordination, also, Tenzo is indeed the ideal replacement, it also explains why he was unable to be present in this meeting, he will need to acquint himself with his new duties and responsibilities as soon as possible! Having said that, I am afraid that you will not be able to fullfil your wish to become a Jonin-Sensei at this point in time!" said Hiruzen authoratively, dropping a bomb inside the meeting hall, shocking and confusing almost everyone except for three particular individuals, those being Hyuga Hiashi, Shimura Danzo, and Uchiha Itachi, all three having expected something like this. Everyone watched the proceedings with intense concentration and anticipation, waiting to see how the unpredictable prodigy woud react to the Hokage's decision.

"On what grounds, if I may ask...Hokage-sama?" asked Itachi emotionlessly.

"Hmmmm..." sighed the old Hokage, taking a long puff from his pipe before responding to the Uchiha prodigy's question, putting everyone on edge with the suspense.

"Well, there are only 12 people who have graduated this year, and they have all been already accounted for. Hatake Kakashi aproached me last night, requesting that he be allowed to groom Uchiha Sasuke and Uzumaki Naruto. After some prompting, he revealed that his reasons for requesting Naruto were because he wanted to honour his Sensei, Yondaime-dono, by helping his legacy develop into a fine shinobi. He also revealed to me that he also wanted to honour his late teammate and friend, Uchiha Obito by developing one of the last living members of the Uchiha clan into a great shinobi, he said that this way, he could in a sense, contribute to the rebuilding of the Uchiha-clan. Knowing this, I could not have in my right mind denied him such a passionate request, and henceforth, it has been decided, that Hatake Kakashi will mentor a ninjutsu orientated combat team, the new team seven, consisting of Uzumaki Naruto, Haruno Sakura, and Uchiha Sasuke!" said the Sandaime Hokage, taking another long puff from his pipe, unintentionally increasing the tention and anticipation in the hall.

"This morning I had two people making requests for genin teams, Yuhi Kurenai has been like a big sister to one Hyuga Hinata, the heiress of the Hyuga-clan and has asked to be the Sensei of any team that the Hyuga heiress should be apart of, noting her reasons as wanting to help her regain her confidence and unleash her potenial on the shinobi world. Also, the head of the Hyuga-clan, Hyuga Hiashi has given his support and permission to Kurenai in written form and presented it to me. And so it has already been decided, that Yuhi Kurenai will be the Jonin-Sensei of a tracking and scouting team, the new team 8, consisting of Hyuga Hinata, Inuzuka Kiba, and Aburame Shino!" said the Sandaime, looking at Yuhi Kurenai from the corner of his eye, with her nodding her head in approval.

"The other person to meet with me this morning was Sarutobi Asuma, simply requesting to guide the next generation of shinobi and stating that he would do his best no matter what team was given to him. And it has already been decided that Sarutobi Asuma will groom the infiltration, interogation, and assassination team, the new team 10, consisting of Nara Shikamaru, Akimichi Chouji, and Yamanaka Ino!" concluded Sarutobi, staring directly into Itachi's sharingan eyes.

"Those are all the teams that were available, as you can see...Itachi." drawled out Hiruzen, taking silent pleasure in the teeneager's misfortune.

Itachi simply closed his eyes, pulling out a scroll from his weapon pouch, causing everyone to tense up at the teenager's actions, only to relax again when they realised that it was just a scroll, although curiosity at an all time peak now, wondering what the Uchiha prodigy could be up to now.

"I have heard you Sandaime-sama! I respect and have accepted your decision. Kakashi-Senpei, Asuma-san, and Yuhi Kurenai have earned this priviledge and fully deserve to be given their chance...but so do I...!" said Itachi with conviction and determination.

"Itachi...I will not change my decision..."

"Nor do I expect you to Hokage-sama! I have already recruited three of my own students and I have already received permission to take them under my wing from the relevant parties, the only person whose blessing I need now, is yours!" said Itachi, causing the Hokage's eyes to widen in surprise, a forboding feeling settling at the pit of his stomach.

"W-who? Who could you possibly have recruited?" asked the Sandaime, unable to think of anyone at all that the Uchiha could be talking about.

"I have recruited two students from the Academy, Hyuga Hanabi and Sarutobi Konohamaru..."

"Unacceptable! You have overstepped your boundaries Itachi! What made you think you have the right to go behind my back and do something like this! Those children still have two years left at the academy before they are ready! They're still too young!" exclaimed the Hokage furiously, slamming his fists hard against his desk, rizing to his feet in an instant, his KI lashing out at everything and everyone within the meeting hall.

"Sir, with all due respect, I was three years younger than them when I became a genin, and the same age as they are now when I became chuunin. Your son was a year younger then Konohamaru when he made genin and so was Yuhi Kurenai! Kakashi senpei was already a chunin at age 10 too, and half their age when he made genin! Furthermore, I have a scroll here that has a written and signed recomendation from both their class teachers, acknowledging that both students are miles ahead of their peers and mentally ready to handle the life of a shinobi. Also, they privately took the same test that this year's graduates took and passed with flying colours, their scores matching that of this year's rooky of the year! And lastly, but not least, I also have the head of the Hyuga clan, Hiashi-sama's written and signed consent to take his daughter, Hyuga Hanabi under my wing! All I need now is your consent, Hokage-sama!" replied Itachi in a flat voice.

Hiruzen on the other hand wanted to claw his grey hair off in frustration, he could honestly say that he had never met someone that frustrated him to this extent, not even Danzo or his former teammates could cause him this much stress. But it was unbecoming of a shinobi, especially a Kage to show any weakness at any point in time, and he refused to be exposed by a mere teenager, he was a war veteran that had fought in two world wars, with that in mind, the Sandaime took a deep breathe and re-seated himself, taking a small puff of smoke in order to calm his nerves.

"Itachi, are you aware that you cannot have a team with only two students, our policy is that every genin team should be a four man squad with three genin and a single Jonin." argued Hiruzen, grasping on his last straws.

"I am aware of that bit of information Hokage-sama, but, it does not concern me too much. Right now as we speak, a boy, Sai is his name, is undergoing his own graduation examination. He was formerly a boy that was apprenticed to elder Danzo-sama, but will now be joining my genin squad as part of his development! I have the utmost confidence that he will pass the examination and will join what will be an all round team, the new team 13 that will be lead by me as Jonin Sensei, consisting of Hyuga Hanabi, Sarutobi Konohamaru, and Sai...with your permission of course...Hokage-sama...?" trailed off Itachi, surprising everyone that someone would be willing to go to such great lengths just because they wanted a genin team, even using the Hokage's own grandson to further his ambition.

"Is this true, Danzo...Hiashi? Has Itachi received your consent?" asked Sarutobi with a sinister undertone.

"I have faith in Itachi both as a shinobi and a friend, and thereby entrust my daughter to him. He has my consent, Hokage-sama!" replied Hiashi monotously.

"I have entrusted my apprentice to him!" Said Danzo in a flat voice.

"I see...well...I cannot give you permission to take Konohamaru under your wing, as I feel he is too young and immature. As his grandfather, I want him to enjoy his childhood before he is thrust into the cruel and harsh ninja world! I'm sorry...Itachi!" apologised the Hokage with fake sincerity.

"Ahem...actually, I have already given my permission to Itachi, as Konohamaru's **legal **guardian. Frankly, I feel that you're underestimating Konohamaru way too much Hokage-sama." said Asuma awkwardly, scratching his cheek nervously. He knew that his dad would be livid with him, but he honestly didn't care, Konohamaru has been training very hard for years now, he should know, he was the one that taught the boy wind manipulation after all. In his opinion, the boy was more than qualified, Asuma had no intention of spoiling this opportunity for his nephew because of whatever political game his father was playing.

_'Asuma you fool!' _thought Hiruzen angrily, unable to believe what was transpiring in front of his eyes. Deep down, Hiruzen knew that he couldn't really blame Asuma, his son did not know about the tension and power struggles between the village and the Uchiha clan, but even knowing this, he couldn't help but to blame his son for his consistent poor decision making. Hiruzen knew that he was getting old, he would be forced to choose a successor within a year or two, and Itachi would no doubt be the best candidate, even the Fire Nation Daimyo had taken interest in the boy's development. The Fourth was dead, and his three students had gone wayward, but Itachi was here, winning the approval and respect of many important and powerful people. Hiruzen had been hoping to use the excuse that Itachi did not groom any apprentices for the village to deny him the title, it was a law that Hashirama-sama had enacted when he first founded the village, but that plan was crumbling right in front of his eyes, even worse, Itachi had somehow managed to legally get his hands on Konohamaru, this was obviously an act of revenge if you asked Hiruzen, the Village used Uchiha Shishui against the Uchiha clan, and now Itachi was going to try and use the Hokage's grandson against the Hokage and the Village.

_'Hiashi I can believe, but I can't understand how Itachi has managed to win Danzo's support, he was at the forefront of the Uchiha Massacre and never liked them from the start! What could have changed...did Itachi offer him something that he couldn't refuse...or does Itachi know a secret that Danzo wants to keep?' _thought Hiruzen.

_'I have lost this battle...there is nothing I can do at the moment, but I will not lose the war!' _vowed Hiruzen. It was clear to him that Itachi was at a level higher than his predecessors, whereas they had fought the battle with brute force and aggression, Itachi was fighting the war with brains and finesse, which was something much harder to fight against, because Itachi wasn't doing anything that was illegal.

"Permission granted! It would be unethical for me to deny you this wish...Itachi, the will of fire burns brightly within your heart, I can tell by the lengths that you have gone to just to obtain this priviledge. You, Uchiha Itachi are now officially the jonin-sensei of team 13, consiting of Hyuga Hanabi, Sarutobi Konohamaru, and Sai and I herby declare the meeting adjourned! We will discuss the chunnin exams in the next meeting, you're all dismissed!" said the Hokage, placing his Hat on his head in such a position that it covered the upper part of his face, hiding the fury and anger that was manifest in his eyes...

**END CHAPTER**

**That's it, so much more I wanted to do in this chapter, but that's my limit!**

**What is Itachi up to and how are Danzo and Hiashi related to it?**

**Who is the boy with the Second Hokage's cells and how does Oto plan to harvest Hashirama's cells?**

**Stay tuned for the next chapter if you wana find out!**

**The title for the next chapter is: **The Chuunin Exams!

**I thought I would give Ido her chance to shine in this chapter! I'm curious to hear what yaw think about that. It won't happen to often of course, although some of Yakumo's tactics and jutsu will require her participation.**

**I also introduced Pakura this chapter and I made her younger than she is in manga, what do yaw think about her being the sensei of the sand siblings? **

**I will be introducing the Oto genin teams in the next chapter, I think you'll all be surpprised.**

**Anyway thanks for reading, and keep it real! I'm out!**


	12. Chapter 12

**Disclaimer: **I do not own Naruto or any other series/movie that I might use for inspiration.

**CHAPTER 12**

_**The Chuunin Exams: Part 1**_

**A year since the Kazekage Meeting...**

"Why are we intentionally arriving late...Naruto-sensei?" asked Ranmaru passively, an afeminate looking 9 year old boy with a round face, red eyes, and purple hair with two bangs framing the side of each cheek and two shorter bangs falling over his foregead. The boy is wearing a martial arts outfit consisting of a dark red T-shirt and on top of that a black, sleeveless top that is tied around the waist with a red sash. He is also wearing black ninja pants with red bandages around the ankles and black ninja sandals. A red weapon pouch is also attached to his right leg.

"Yeah! Why the hell are we late Baka-sensei? That's so unprofessional and unshi...unsh...un-shinobi like!" exclaimed Amaru petulantly, pointing an accusing finger at the blonde haired jonin. She is a 10 year old girl with long red hair, blue eyes, thick eyebrows and a small mole right under her left eye. She is wearing 3/4 tight fitting cargo pants with a black weapon's pouch on her right leg. On her upper body she is only wearing a form fitting, black sleeveless t-shirt with black fingerless gloves on her hands.

"Is that anyway to speak to your honorouble Jonin-sensei Amaru-chan?" asked Naruto mockingly, a trademark shark-like smirk forming on his facial features, showing off his triangular, razor sharp teeth, his outfit remaining unchanged apart drom the colour of his kimomo, now wearing a white one with the trademark open mouthed blue shark at the back with red, slitted eyes glowing inside the dark depths of its mouth, also with red chakra tails swirling around the shark. The Kimomo is tied around the waist with a purple rope belt and on his lower body are black shinobi pants wrapped with white bandages around the ankles and black ninja sandals on his feet.

"Aaaargh! It's probably one of your stupid pranks again, those pranks aren't even fun at all, right Isaribi-chan?" huffed Amaru, asking or rather demanding that the only other kunoichi in the team to back her up against the blonde haired menace.

"Ummm...actually...I...I've always enjoyed Naruto-ku...I mean Naruto-Sensei's pranks, they're quite enjoyable a-actually." stuttered Isaribi nervously, a deep shade of red forming on her heart shaped face. She is a twelve year old girl that has dark eyes and indigo hair with two bangs framing the sides of her face. Her outfit consists of tight, elastic black shorts with a grey weapons pouch strapped to her left thigh and black ninja sandals on her feet. On her upper body is only a blue, elastic, form fitting, and sleeveless top that leaves the middle of her back exposed in a oval shape. The outfit is a special design from the science devision of Oto designed to accomodate for her growth during her Kaima Monster Transformation. The exposed back making room for the fin that grows on her spine and the elastic nature of the material for her overall size growth in her Kaima mode.

"You bitch!" screeched Amaru with a betrayed expression, pulling on the other girl's hair violently.

"Aaaah! Amaru-chan that hurts!" cried out Isaribi.

"Shut up and take your punishment! That's what you get for taking his side just because you lo...mmmmmmm!" Isaribi, with incredible reflexes quickly clamped her hand over Amaru's mouth, a pissed off expression etched on her facial features, a complete contrast to her previous passive and somewhat timid look, scaring the hairs off of Amaru's head.

"If you complete that sentence...I'll kill you! Got it...?" warned Isaribi with a sinister undertone, her threat however had the opposite effect to what she intended, the fear vanishing from Amaru's eyes only to be replaced with a look of fury and defiance in one, tightening her hold on her teammates hair.

"I'm waiting for your respo..." Isaribi froze mid-sentence, unable to complete her speech, both hers and Amaru's eyes wide in shock, feeling an overwhelming amount of killing intent directed towards the two of them.

"The two of you will stop what you're doing...NOW!" warned Ranmaru furiously, his eyes glowing with a malicious red colour, showing that his doujutsu was activated.

The two girls quickly released each other, both adopting battle ready stances, Isaribi adopting a look of confusion, curiosity and concern, a complete contrast to Amaru's look of anger and defiance.

"What makes you think you can order us around you short freaky eyed bastard!" barked Amaru with an ugly snarl.

"Naruto-sensei elected me as Team Seven's leader for a reason, you **will **obey me!" said Ranmaru authoratively.

"Over my dead body! I'm not taking orders from a snort nosed brat like you!" shouted Amaru in retaliation.

"Just let it go Amaru-chan...we are supposed to be a team, we shouldn't have been fighting against each other to begin with. Besides, he's right, Naruto-sensei made him leader, he must have had his reasons for that." said Isaribi, trying to be the voice of reason between her two teammates.

"Aaaarg! Why him, why does he have to be leader!" shouted Amaru in frustration, pointing an accusing finger at the young prodigy.

"I have valid reasons for choosing him as the leader Amaru!" interjected Naruto, having watched the exchange between his students silently up until now.

"Yeh...like what?" asked Amaru defiantly.

"You shouldn't question Naruto-sensei Amaru-chan..."

"No, it is okay Isaribi-chan, I'm actually glad that she asked. I do not want any of you to ever shy away from asking me questions about anything. That is why I am here afterall, to provide answers for your many questions, that way, I can help you become better shinobi." said Naruto, cutting off Isaribi mid-sentence.

"H-hai Naruto-sensei! Gomen!"

"No need to apologise Isaribi-chan." replied Naruto with a kind smile, causing Isaribi to blush furiously.

"H-hai...!"

_'Oh good lord they're so disgusting! Student and Sensei shamelessly flirting like nobody's business! Aaaarg!' _thought Amaru with a look of disgust.

"Amaru...I had the whole team's best interests at heart when I elected Ranmaru to be the team leader!" said Naruto sternly.

"Yeh? How so?" asked Amaru with a _'that's bullshit' _expression.

"Ranmaru has three sixty degree, telescopic, and ex-ray vision! Because of this, he has great powers of perception and understanding, it is a character trait that comes with those abilties. He is a person who analyzes, scrutinizes, and disects every situation and comes up with many solutions and possible outcomes before he makes a decision, you should know this already, considering that the two of you have never even come close to beating him in any strategic games and excercises. Also, his visual prowess make him the perfect leader, because he is able to pre-determine and discover threats in advance and thus, take counter measures long before your lives are in actual danger. He is also able to watch his and your backs at all times." explained Naruto, taking a small pause in speech to allow the 10 year old kunoichi to digest the information.

"Also, Ranmaru's **eye of the scavenger technique **makes him the ideal leader! This was the abilty that made he and Raiga such a dangerous combo, and this ability has also made you a formidable team hasn't it, so much so that many believe you three to be the strongest genin team in Oto..." trailed off Naruto, knowing that he was right and the redhead could do nothing to dispute his words.

She knew they were very fortunate to have Ranmaru in their team, by filtering and storing a portion of his chakra into their nervous systems, Ranmaru had the ability to telepathically communicate with his teammates at all times, sharing information, strategies, and instructions with his teammates without the enemy being the wiser, this was the power of Ranmaru's **eye of the scavenger technique**. It was really a great trump card and it wasn't hard to see why that made Ranmaru the ideal choice for team leader.

"Ranmaru also has an IQ of..."

"Okay okay I get it Sensei geez! But I still don't like it...I don't like the way he talks down to us just because he is the leader! Its's not right!" muttered Amaru with a cute pout.

"You're right, it isn't." responded Naruto with a small frown, surprising everyone with his response, especially Amaru, who looked like a dear caught in headlights, not having expected Naruto-Sensei to agree with her.

"N-Naruto-sensei...?" sputtered Ranmaru with a questioning tone, his eyes wide in surprise.

"Don't get me wrong, I still believe that you have the makings of a great leader! But being a great leader is not just about attaining a position of power and issuing instructions, you have to actually lead the people under your authority." said Naruto cryptically.

"Naruto-sensei...I don't understand...?" asked Ranmaru with a confused but curious expression.

"What I mean is, you have to try and get to know your people, you have to reason with them and try to understand where they're coming from, and you have to also acknowldge your own circumstances. Ranmaru, you are blessed with amazing talent and skill, your teammates more than anyone know that and they respect you for what you have achieved, but you have to realise that they also want your acknowledgement for what they have achieved. You are the youngest person in the team, how do you think your teammates feel when you talk down to them?" asked Naruto rhetorically, causing Ranmaru's eyes to widen in realisation.

"You get it right? You don't have to hold your position of power over them to get them to listen to you, they already know that you're the team leader, they were already looking to you to choose a plan of action even before I made you the official leader, because they had already acknowledged your skill, power, and intellect. Remember, you are their friend and teammate first and their leader second, you do not have to sacrifice your bond with your teammates in order to lead them effectively!" lectured Naruto with a sympathetic smile, patting the 9 year old prodigy on the head affectionately.

"N-Naruto sensei...Amaru-chan...Isaribi-chan...I...I'm sorry for failing you! I-I promise, I will become the best team leader! I promise!" said Ranmaru, trying and failing to hold back his choking sobs, a river tears flowing down his cheeks rapidly.

_'Ranmaru...you...you really...!' _thought Amaru with wide eyes, surprise written all over her face, just now realising just how seriously Ranmaru took his role as the team leader and just how heavy a burden he was carrying...and how much he really cared about his comrades.

"Ranmaru-kyn...it's okay, you haven't failed us! W-we always believed in you, right Amaru-chan?" sputtered Isaribi hastily, not liking to see anyone of her teammates shedding tears because of her, or for any reason for that matter.

"Tche! As if that wasn't already obvious you Baka! I don't know why you take pleasure in stating the obvious!" said Amaru, walking ahead of the team towards the direction where the meeting would be taking place. Naruto, Isaribi, and even Ranmaru all smiled in amusement, knowing that they had just heard the closest thing to an apology that they have ever heard from the tomboyish redhead.

_**"Isaribi the Kaima Monster, Amaru the Reibi's Vessel, and Ranmaru of the Fuingan...you have yourself quite an interesting team here Naruto-kun, but it is still too hard to imagine why you would sacrifice two positions of such great power just for the opportunity to mentor a team of genin, no matter how talented they may be, surely you could have arranged for someone you trust to groom these children? I can think of a few names right off of the top of my head!" **_grumbled Kurami, unable to understand the blonde's decision at all.

_"Hehe! You're just angry because you believe the Kyubi should be at the top of the packing order...aren't you...Kaa-chaaan?'"_teased Naruto with a toothy grin.

_**"Exactly! Can't you see that you will no longer be able to have a say in how the village is governed anymore?" **_exclaimed Kurami as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

_"Sigh...you're not getting me are you...Kaa-chan? Sure, I do not have as much of an influence as I would have liked to have on the new Jonin Commander, after all, Kabuto has always leaned more towards Orochimaru-sama's views than mine, yet still, Kimimaro is the new Sound 5 leader and Juugo has taken over my former role as Head Of Oto Security. Juugo still secretely takes orders from me and Kimimaro looks to me for advice, as a result, I would say we have a lot our power still intact. Also, like you said, Amaru, Isaribi, and Ranmaru are arguably the most talented genin team in Oto, they will one day become powerful and influencial people in the village, having people like them on our side will increase the reach of our influence and power in Otogakure no Sato. Namely, we're not actually losing power by taking on this genin team, we're actually increasing that power!" _replied Naruto, trying to passify his mother's anger, he knew better than anyone just how scary she could be when she was pissed off, easily the most frightening mother figure in the shinobi world if you asked him.

_**"Hmmm...I wonder how long it took you to reherse that speech! Why don't you stop taking me for a fool and tell me the real reason you wanted this particular genin team?" **_demanded Kurami, honestly, did Naruto-kun think that he could fool her? She was the one that raised him up since the age of four, she was his mother and knew him better than he even knew himself, there was no way he could hide anything from her, the idiot!

_'Heh! As expected, I can't get anything passed you can I Kaa-chan? Anyway, I wouldn't say it is the real reason, more like...the other reason! If you put what I told you earlier together with what I'm about to tell you, then you get the real reason...' _trailled off Naruto.

_**"I'm listening...!"**_

_'Well, to put it simply, all three of them kind of remind me of myself! Amaru has the malicious Reibi living inside of her, just like I have you, and she was also deceived and betrayed by Shinno of Hidden Sky Village, as was I by Sarutobi Hiruzen of Konoha. I have this strong desire to help her get over that betrayal and to see her grow into a great kunoichi, I also want to help her gain full control of the Reibi's powers..." _explained the blonde, stating the glaring similarities between himself and his redhead student.

_"Isaribi on the other hand is an aquatic monster just like I am, and all her life in Sea Country was scorned, hated, and humiliated by her own people, that hit me a bit too close to home for my liking! Shinobi are not supposed to be bound by their emotions, but this is something I just cannot detach myself from, I will help her regain her self-esteem and I will make her a great Kunoichi...no matter what!" _exclaimed Naruto passionately, an unwavering determination manifesting in his eyes.

_**"I see...and I guess the same principle goes to Ranmaru as well, a boy who was hated, neglected, labelled a monster and subsequently hunted down by the bloody mist village! Having to raise himself and survive on his own because no one was willing to take him in and raise a monster! Close to home indeed, but I would have thought that Choumei's vessel would have been a more logical and personal choice than any of the three that you just mentioned?" **_asked Kurami curiously.

_"She was my first choice I must admit, but Suzumebachi also wanted her as a student, and you know she's been like a mother hen to Fu ever since she joined us, she would have never allowed me to take her! Besides, Suzu-chan was the one who discovered Fu during her bug searching expeditions in the first place, all I did was to help her rescue Fu from her misery in Takigakure, so I guess she had a first preference right in this situation. Also, Fu has the ability to fly, that makes it mandatory that she be a member of Suzu-chan's __**kunoichi flying squad!**__" _explained Naruto.

_**"Hmmm...everything seems to make a lot more sense now that you've explained yourself, I guess I should stop underestimating you. It's just that you're growing up so fast it's hard to accept that you might not always need me to hold your hand." **_said Kurami somberly, unwillingly showing a little bit of her insecuries.

_"I'll always need you by my side Kaa-chan! I don't ever want to lose you, the thought of you not being by my side scares the living daylights out of me! I'll always love you! Never forget that!" _replied Naruto affectionately, sending a mental hug to his mother figure, one that Kurami returned eagerly, a satisfied and happy smile forming on her facial features.

"Hooooi! Stop staring at my back and hurry up! We're already one hour late you idiots!" shouted Amaru, breaking Naruto from his private moment with his mother.

"We're coming!" Naruto shouted back with an amused smile.

"Let's go Isaribi, Ranmaru, she'll kill us if we waste any more time!" exclaimed Naruto, running ahead to catch up to the Reibi vessel, the other two members of his team running rapidly to catch up to him.

Meanwhile, on the outskirts of the former Rice Country, now Sound Country, on a lakeside, a very important meeting, one that Naruto's team 7 were supposed to be participating in, was taking place, a meeting concerning the upcoming Chuunin Exams set to be hosted by Konoha in two weeks time.

Nearest to the lake, with his back facing the water, stood the leader of Oto, Orochimaru of the Densetsu no Sannin, and next to him, his right hand man and Jonin Commander, Yakushi Kabuto with his left hand placed on his hip, the 16 year old waiting patiently for the meeting to commence, trying to hold back a chuckle at his master's frustration at the blonde Uzumaki's uncharacteristic tardiness.

Before the two of them, on their furthest right stood Karin, also showing quite an irritated expression, trying to think of possible methods that she could use to punish Naruto-kun for making her wait in the scorching heat just for him, but unable to come up with anything that did not envolve any pleasure or both of them getting naked, which frustrated her to no end, seriously, was she really that much of a pervert!

_'Karin-sensei is such a pervert! I can sense the overwhelming pheromones coming from her, must be daydreaming about her and Naruto-sensei doing it on the lakeside! Tche, I wonder how often she and Naruto-sensei do it...maybe I I could spy on them sometime!' _thought Karin's apprentice, Ami, with a perverted and devious smirk, a 12 year old beautiful but tomboyish girl with brown eyes and purple hair styled in an asymmetrical cut, wearing purple sleeveless top and purple spandex shorts with a black skirt over it and black shinobi sandals with a brown weapons pouch strapped to her right thigh. Probably, the most unique physical traits about her were her longer than average nails and canine teeth.

"Something funny, Ami-chan?" asked Karin, looking at her student with the corner of her right eye, unable to comprehend how someone could be in such a good mood given the current circumstances. Usually, in meetings like this, genin students would be found standing in front with their senseis standing behind them, but that wouldn't quite work out with this pair, it would look quite ridiculous really with both girls being the same age and aproximately, the same height. The same went for Yakumo and her genin team, all her students were relatively the same height as her and were of the same age group, and hence, she had to stand next to them, making her look like just another genin at times. Naruto on the other hand was lucky, since Amaru and Ranmaru were two and three years younger than him respectively, and also quite significantly shorter than him.

"Huh...? Um! No! It's realy nothing Karin-sensei...I aah...I was just reminscing about something that happened in the past! Nothing at all! Ehehehe ehehehe!" replied Ami hastily, displaying her extremely poor lying skills.

"Hmmm..." was Karin's only reply, turning away from the purple haired genin to look around for any signs of Naruto's impending return, even though she knew it was useless, she knew that he and his students were already here, she could sense their chakra, they were at the top of the cliff behind them. She was just wondering what the hell he was up to hiding up there.

_'I hope he's not planning another prank on Orochimaru-sama, I don't feeling like dealing with his temper tantrums today!' _thought Karin. Ami on the other hand signed in relief, happy that Karin-sensei bought her excuse, not knowing that in acruality, Karin just chose not to bother to call her out on her obvious lie, knowing that it was a hopeless endeavor.

_'Ami, you really do need to work on your skills of deception, even a civilian could have lied better than that.' _Thought Yakumo, who was standing on Ami's right hand side, the Jonin shaking her head in dismay at the purple haired genin's poor deception skills, something that she on the other hand was probably the best at in Oto.

"Hehehe! You know Yakumo-Sensei, maybe you should give her a crash course in the art of deception, she really looks like she could use it!" said the guy on Yakumo's right hand side, who is one of her three students, Kinuta Dosu, a 12 year old hunchbacked boy with white bandages covering most of his face, leaving only his left eye uncovered. He is wearing a poncho with long sleeves, a snake patterned scarf around his neck, a straw raincoat protruding from the back of his scarf and a large metalic amplifier on his right arm for his sound vibration attacks.

"I heard that you hunchbacked bastard! How dare you insult me!" whispered Ami harshly, with an angry snarl plastered on her face, pronouncing her animal features even more than usual with her long canines in full display.

"I don't know why you're getting angry, Dosu was just looking out for your wellbeing. If I was you, I woud be grateful and take his advice." said the girl next to Dosu with a mocking undertone, another of Yakumo's students, and maybe her favorite student, Tsuchi Kin, a very beautiful 12 year old girl with black eyes and very long black hair, almost reaching the ground, tied by a violet ribbon near the end. She has wide hips and a heart shaped face with an Otogakure forehead protector on her forehead, wearing a light green vest that resembles a flak jacket and snake paterned baggy pants and scarf. On her left wrist is what appears to be some kind of summoning seal variation.

She and Yakumo got along very well, so well that they could spend hours just chatting, sharing and exchanging ideas about their shared interest and passion...Genjutsu. The only thing that infuriated Yakumo about Kin was her excessive and vigorous flirting with Naruto. Her constantly throwing around innuendos about her and Naruto or finding and using every opportunity she could to make physical contact with her Naruto-kun, it really pissed her off. What pissed her off even more however, was Kin's denial when she confronted her about it, even going as far as to suggest that she was maybe paranoid and overprotective. Yakumo wasn't stupid, she knew that Naruto-kun was a catch, and she knew that she couldn't possibly help him rebuild the Uzumaki-clan on her own, but couldn't Kin at least wait until she was a Jonin too before persuing Naruto? Surely a sensei shouldn't have to share her man with her own genin student should she?

"Y-you bitch! Who asked you for your opinion!" exclaimed Ami, a furious blush spreading across her face from both anger and embarrasment.

"Haah! A poor liar and a dirty mouth, what a troublesome brat! Hahaha! Maybe we need to take her back to the academy, ne Yakumo-sensei?" laughed Abumi Zaku, the third member of Yakumo's genin team,standing next to Kin, a 12 year old boy with spiky dark hair and dark eyes, wearing a beige shirt with two black stripes and three prints of the kanji for 'death' down the front. His forehead protector has a faceguard and just like his teammates, is wearing a snake patterned scarf around his neck with similar patterned pants.

"Ami isn't part of our team, but she is still a comrade, you shouldn't speak so ill of your own comrades, it's disgusting! Besides, we can't all be good at everything, she may not be good at deception, but she is one of the best at taijutsu and medical ninjutsu, stop insulting her to make yourselves feel better about your own short comings, rather focus on imroving your own skills, or try to help her with her shortcomings, like real comrades should do!" said Yakumo sternly, effectively ending the conversation, her students, and Ami bowing their heads in shame and contemplation.

_'Heh...I used to think that I could become the alpha female in Naruto-kun's new Uzumaki clan if I gained power and became the strongest Kunoichi in Oto, but you taught me something different Yakumo-chan. Watching you...I was able to realise that it takes more than just brute strength and ninjutsu to hold such a position, wisdom, compassion, and understanding are just few of the things that are required...just a few of the things you have taught me...I can't help but want to follow in your footsteps, you truly are the real deal!' _thought team nine's sensei, Guren with a nostalgic expression mixed with admiration. The sixteen year old not having changed much, not counting the much more curvaceous body with the D-cup breasts, long, unending legs, wide hips, and plump but firm ass, a true symbol of beauty and sexuality. She also now wore the standard female version of the Oto jonin outit, black tight fitting pants and black ninja sandals, a short sleeved black top and a red flack-jacket with a black spiral at the back, symbolizing the rebirth of the Uzumaki clan in Oto. Also, wearing a black forehead protectore with a purple weapons pouch on her left thigh.

Standing in front of her were her three students, on her left hand side, Fuma Sasame, a cute girl with a heart shaped face and long orange hair wearing black ninja sandals, tight fitting red shorts, and white T-shirt complete with a black flak jacket with numerous pouches where she stored her sealing scrolls. She also has a scroll compartment around her waist and a mini rectangular zanbatou strapped to her back with a black chain that also wraps around her waist, the chain extending from the hilt of her zanbatou.

Next to her, right in front of Guren, is Yukimaru, a 9 year old boy with magenta eyes and long light blonde hair. He is wearing a tight fitting red t-shirt, navy blue ninja pants wrapped with black bangages around the ankles and dark blue ninja sandals. The most unusual thing about his appearance however would be the hilt or crossguard vertically situated on his back, this not being just a random or ordinary hilt of course, but the legendary Raijin no Ken, a graduation gift from his sister figure, Guren, after she had killed the previous owner of the sword, the Konoha and Ame rogue shinobi Rokusho Aoi, for refusing her invitation to join Otogakure. It was also fitting that he should have it, considering that he now possessed the powers of the Second Hokage, Tobirama Senju, who was the original owner of the sword.

And last but not least, standing next to Yukimaru, the last living member of the Tsuchigumo clan, Tsuchigumo Hotaru, a 12 year old girl with a slender and yet curvaceous body and a noticeable large bust for someone of her age. She has dark green eyes, a widow's peak, and long dark blonde hair that reaches the middle of her back. Also, she is wearing a a light-violet and white top, black shorts and a black skirt over the shorts with high black boots and light violet wrist bands.

Next to Guren and her team, on their right hand side we find Suzumebachi and her team 10, also known as the **flying kunichi squad**, a special team of extroadinarily talented kunoichi, all possessing the ability to fly in one manner or another. A team that was assembled solely for the purpose of extinguishing the stigma against kunoichi that exists in the shinobi world, a stigma born from the belief that kunoichi are useless, weak, incompetent, and inferior to shinobi.

Suzumebachi's outfit also changed since she became a Jonin Sensei, now wearing the standard Kunoichi Jonin outfit of Oto with short sleeves and her forehead protector wrapped around her right arm.

Her genin team was standing in front off her, on her left we find the heiress of the Hoshi clan, Hoshi Hokuto, a 12 year old girl with dark eyes and brown hair with two bangs framing her face. She is wearing tight black shorts with purple kimomo top tied around the waist with a black sash and black ninja sandals. A purple supplies pouch is strapped to her left leg and she is wearing black, fingerless gloves with her forehead protector wrapped around her forehead.

Standing in front of Suzumebachi, is her surrogate sister, the Nanabi Jinchuuriki, Fu, an exotic, beautiful lithe girl with tan skin, mint green hair and an orange eye colour. She is wearing a short, sleeveless, and white midriff shirtwith fishnet armour underneath, long white armlets and fishnet shorts with a white apron skirt over it**. **She is also wearing long white armlets with an Otogakure forehead protector wrapped around her right arm.

And last but not least, on Fu's right hand side, stood the heiress of the Fuma clan, Fuma Kagero, a lithe girl with pale blue eyes, creamy skin, and a light shade of mint green hair, wearing a light blue sleeveless top and black spandex shorts with a short, black skirt on top. She is also wearing dark blue ninja sandals with a brown supllies pouch on her right leg and an Oto forehead protector around her forehead.

On the far right, near a mountain side, stood various other shinobi and Jonin of Oto, including the sound five, Kimimaro, Tayuya, Jirobo, Kidomaru, Sakon and Ukon, and the swordsmen of Oto, Zabuza, Raiga, and Suigetsu. Other members present include Haku, Fuma Kotohim, Fuma Arashi, Fuma Jigumo, Fuma Kamikiri, Fuma Hanzaki, the Demon Brothers and various other elite Jonin.

_'I wonder where team 7 is...heh...what could that be...?' _thought Suigetsu in surprise, he was just watching the clouds in boredom, wandering if he could possibly use his **hydrification **ability to turn himself into a cloud and soar the skies one day when he saw two monstrous figures falling down from the sky. Taking a closure look, he was able to identify the two as members of team 7, the Kaima and Shark Monsters of Oto.

_'Judging by the trajectory, they look set to enter the water in the area behind Kabuto and...oh you sly bastard, I can't believe you plannned a water based prank on Orochimaru without involving me in the plan!' _thought Suigetsu in amusement, preparing himself, both physically and mentally for the storm that Orochimaru's ire would no doubt create.

**SPLASH!**

Was the sound as the two monsters collided with the water, creating a mini-tsunami that splashed over Orochimaru and his right hand man, soaking them to within an inch of the bone.

"..."

"..."

"..."

A dreadful silence washed over the the lakeside, almost like a calm before the storm. It took a a few seconds, but the two monsters eventually surfaced, Naruto in his shark mode and Isaribi in her kaima mode. Naruto had the trademark toothy grin splitting up his face whereas Isaribi looked like a dear caught in headlights, realization of what she had done seemingly settling into her mind.

"Hahaha! You know...people usually remove their clothes before they take a bath...Orochimaru-sama!" teased Naruto.

_'That idiot! Does he have a deathwish!' _thought Karin furiously, unable to believe that Naruto would do something this stupid, even worse, having the gal to rub it in like that.

_'Oh Naruto-kun, you've done it now haven't you...but why did you have to involve poor Isaribi-chan in something this dangerous!' _thought Yakumo with concern.

_'Wow! Naruto-sama's so brave and cool!' _thought Kin, Ami, Zaku, and in fact most of the genin thinking along the same lines, the only Jonins on the same wavelength as them being Suigetsu, Kabuto, Raiga, and the Demon Brothers, the rest appalled by such a blatant act of disrespect and insurbodination.

_'Hehehe...I don't think I've seen Orochimaru-sama looking quite this angry before, I wonder...what he is planning to do to Naruto-kun...' _thought Kabuto, watching Orochimaru slowly turning around, walkig towards the water slowly but purposefully. Orochimaru, not saying anything at all simply placed his hands on the surface of the water, everyone watching his every movement with intense concentration.

"Y-you imputent little brats! Just who do you think I am to you! **Countless Hidden Shadow Snake Hands!**" hissed Orochimaru angrily, building up a large quantity of chakra before releasing his jutsu, summoning over three hundred snakes from his sleeves and into the water, with the intent to strike and kill their targets.

_'Hehe! Just as I thought, but that will never work on me, the battle ground advantage is mine in this situation! Well...atleast this should be good training for Isaribi-chan!' _thought Naruto, eyes sparkling in anticipation and excitement.

"This is it Isaribi-chan! Remember the plan and don't lose your concentration or else..." warned Naruto, swimming away from the barrage of snakes, moving further away to the drection that was on Isaribi's right hand side at incredible speeds, Isaribi moving towards the opposite direction with super speed as well, both displaying their dominion over the waters.

_'Hmmm...clever, they're moving in oppossite directions in order to split Orochimaru-sama's conccentration, it will be hard for him to focus on two different targets that are so far apart from each other. He'll have no choice but to split his army of snakes in half, each half going after one of the two targets.' _thought Kabuto anaytically, and just as expected, the barrage of snakes split themselves in half, one team going after the shark and the other after the kaima.

"Wow! Look how fast they're going Suzu nee-chan! I wish I could swim like that, I'm so jealous!" exclaimed Fu childishly, eyes sparkling in excitement.

"Tche...I don't know why you'd be jealous, you can fly, that is so much better than swimming!" replied Suzumebachi dismissively, however hiding her true feelings on the matter.

_'Actually, I'd really like to be able to swim like that, imagine all the fun I could have with Naruto-kun!' _thought Suzumebachi.

_'Sure flying is great...but still, that really looks like a lot of fun right now Suzu nee-chan!' _thought Fu with a cute pout.

_"Alright, you're doing a great job Isa-chan, now lets initiate phase 2 of the plan!" _praised Naruto, telepathically communicating with his accomplace through Ranmaru's **eye of the scavenger technique**.

_"Got it sensei!" _ replied Isaribi, she and Naruto doing a quick U-turn simultaneously, Naruto to his left and Isaribi to her right, now swimming towards each other at rapid speeds. The snakes were also quick to react, following right on their tails in persuit.

_"Okay that went well, remember the move we practised yesterday?" _asked Naruto.

_"H-hai!" _replied Isaribi.

_"Good, because that's what we're doing! And don't worry, it will definitely work!" _said Naruto soothingly.

_"I know, I trust you sensei!" _was Isaribi's response.

_"Alright! On the count of three...one...!" _said Naruto, the gap between the two team 7 members shortening rapidly.

_"Two...!" _now the two were dangerously close to each other, it almost looked like they were going to headbutt each other with full force, everyone on the edge of their figurative seats in anticipation, wondering what the blonde enigma was up to.

_"And three!" _exclaimed Naruto just before the two collided with each other, the two monsters executing what should have been an impossible manuever from the angle and speed that they were travelling at, both of them shooting straight up and out of the water in a ninety degree angle, hugging each other tightly as they shot towards the sky, reverting back to their human forms in mid-air. The snakes never stood a chance, trying to imitate the impossible manuever but failing miserably, clashing against each other violently, causing numerous puffs of smoke as they dispelled themselves to save their lives, returning back to realm of the snake summons.

"Wow! That looks so...so beautiful!" exclaimed Hotaru, staring in awe at the romantic scene that was on display, a really magestic display indeed, with Naruto and Isaribi fitting perfectly together in each other's embrace, as if they were made for each other. With all the puffs of smoke left behind by the dispelling snakes, it almost looked like they were floating on top of the clouds, and the sun's reflection made the water droplets seem like twinkling stars, like the two were literally floating above the atmosphere.

"Hahaha! We did it Naruto-kun, we did it! I can't believe it actually worked!" exclaimed Isaribi, forgeting her close proximity with the blonde, not even realisig that she had forsaked all formalities and used an affectionate suffix with her sensei.

"Yeah...we did it...Isa-chan!" replied Naruto, captivating Isaribi with his deep, and endless blue eyes, the two not even realising that their heads were moving closer to each other.

"N-Naruto-kun!" mumbled Isaribi nervously, yet still unable to back out, not that she wanted to, cause she really didn't.

"Isa-chan..." nothing more could, would, or even needed to be said, the two connecting their lips together in a passionate display of affection.

"Wow! That damn Naruto and his romantic tendencies, I can't believe he used Orochimaru-sama to pull of something like this. Hehe...sly bastard!" thought Suigetsu out loud.

"Yeh...but I almost feel sorry for him, he's in for the worst punishment possible after this, wonder what the old snake will do to him?" replied Zabuza.

"Yeh...but I bet he doesn't care anyway, that guy has an insane pain threshold, sometimes I wonder if he isn't a masochist." said Meizu with a gruff voice.

"After the stunt he pulled today, I might be inclined to agree with you brother." was Gouzu's response, watching the love birds continue with their mouthlock, even when they landed back on the water, it seemed they couldn't get their hands off each other, public display of affection at its purest, although, both temporarily forgetting exactly where they are.

**One hour Later...**

Everything finally settled down when Yakumo got fed with the display, disguising her ire by initiating a round of applause for the wonderful display! Even going as far as to thank the trio for the wonderful opening ceremony for the meeting, leaving an embarrassed and confused Orochimaru looking like a dear caught in headlights, not knowing how to react as everbody cheered his name for the organising such an outstanding show for them. Everyone backed Yakumo up willingly, knowing exactly what she was up to, hitting two birds with one stone, namely, ending the affectionate display between her man and his future concubine, and saving his skin from a future torture session. Of course, she still planned to administer her own form of punishment on the two of them, but that would come later.

Orochimaru had dried himself up with a wind jutsu before officially commencing the meeting. Discussing various topics, from security, to academy improvements and scientific and medical advancements, and now, finally they were busy discussing the most important issue, the chuunin exams and the invasion of Konoha.

"Listen carefully everyone, this is how we are going to destroy Konoha!" said Kabuto, everyone listening intently to each and every syllable that escaped his lips, not wanting to miss a single detail and end up costing their home village.

"Kimimaro, Jirobo, Tayuya, and Kidomaru, the four of you will disguise yourselves as the bodyguards for Kazekage-dono, who will actually be Orochimaru-sama in disguise." ordered Kabuto.

"And what will the real Kazekage be doing?" asked Kimimaro curiously.

"A very good question Kimimaro-kun. To answer it, let me first explain something for those of you who don't know, in exchange for the alliance with Suna, we had to sacrifice some of our political, scientific, and military assets, namely, the first and second Hokage's bodies in order to advance Suna's human puppet kinjutsu!" of course, none of the Jonin in the meeting were surprised, just the genin and the chuunin, who had not been briefed about the particulars of the alliance.

"But the Kazekage, though appreciative of the gesture, did not like the fact that they would be so indebted to us, as he felt that Suna could not be seen as equals in the alliance unless they give us something of equal value." said Kabuto, pausing slightly to regain his breathe.

"And so it was agreed, that the Kazekage would deliver a healthy and devoloped Uchiha body for Orochimaru-sama to use as his next and final body, in other words, Kazekage-dono's mission during the invasion will be to capture and deliver Uchiha Itachi...!" trailed off Kabuto with a sinister smirk, taking delight in the awed expressions of his subordinates, especially the genin.

"Uchiha Itachi huh...that won't be easy, capturing someone is much harder than killing, but than again, he is the Kazekage...maybe he can pull it off, he certainly has the preparation time to think of something." said Zabuza, voicing his own opinion on the matter.

"Hai, indeed he does, in any case, even if he fails, we already have a back-up plan prepared, one that will be carried out by the Kazekage's eldest son, Sabaku no Kankuro. He has been briefed of the situation and will attempt to capture Itachi's younger brother, Uchiha Sasuke. We can than use him as a bargaining chip to get Uchiha Itachi to willingly surrender himself to us should Kazekage-dono fail to capture Itachi." explained Kabuto as if merely talking about the whether, this not being the first time he would be taking away someone's free will for Orochimaru-sama's gain.

_'Besides...Orochimaru-sama already plans to use a heaven cursed seal on Sasuke-kun...even if both Kazekage-dono and Kankuro should fail...Sasuke-kun will come and seek us out himself for more power!' _thought Kabuto.

"I see, am I right to assume, that while this is going on, we would have the Sandaime Hokage trapped in the **violet flames encapment **barrier with Orochimaru-sama?" asked the leader of the sound five, Kimimaro.

"Hai, that will be your job, when the four of you are done setting up the barrier, Orochimaru-sama will use **edo tensei **to summon the Shodaime and Nidaime Hokage and use them to torture and kill Sarutobi Hiruzen. At the same time, I will be working to destroy Konoha's information distribution and communication, in other words, I will kill their Jonin commander...Nara Shikaku!"

"I see, that makes a lot of sense I guess, but what about the rest of us?" asked Suzumebachi in anticipation, wanting to know what kind of strong opponent she would be tasked to kill, she was after all, the most powerful ninja in the whole of Oto.

"I'm glad you asked me that question, because you will have one of, if not the most difficult battle of your life, but one that will make you a living legend...if you survive!" said Kabuto with a sinister undertone. Suzumebachi was not fazed though, her confidence in her abilities not wavering for even a second.

_'It doesn't matter who my opponent is, no one has ever witnessed my __**four lady bugs technique **__and lived to tell the story!' _thought the Kamizuzu heiress confidently.

"Tell me who you want me to kill, and it shall be done!" demanded Suzumebachi.

"We want you to get rid of the toad sannin, Jiraiya!" said Kabuto with a wicked smile, not surprised by the loud gasp that escaped many of the meeting participants.

"Jiraiya of the Densetsu no Sannin huh...how fitting, toads have been terrorizing bugs for centuries...since the beginning of time! I hate those bastards! This will be marked as the revolution of all time, this time, the bugs will eat the toads! Right...Suzu nee-chan?" Asked Fu enthusiastically, giving her sister figure a vote of confidence.

"Hn, I never thought of it like that before, but I agree with you, it is about time we put that spiecies in their place!" replied Suzumebachi with a malicious smirk, causing Fu to cheer her on happily.

"Orochimaru-sama will have to give her some intel though, he was Jiraiya's former teammate and he has fought with him and against him on many occasions." said Naruto emotionlessly, although Suzumebachi could tell that he was concerned about her, just the fact that he thought of that alone was more than enough evidence.

_'Thank you Naruto-kun...I won't fail you , Fu, or myself for that matter, Jiraiya will die by my hand!' _thought the Kamizuru heiress.

"Fair enough, she can come and talk to me in her own discretion, I will tell her everything I know if it means the death of that imbecile! He has been a thorn on my side for far too long!" replied Orochimaru, a frustrated frown settling onto his features, really, he was more than fed up of that idiot following him around the elemental nations like a lost puppy.

"That's settled than, moving on, Zabuza and Raiga will take care of Hatake Kakashi and Might Guy respectively...Raiga, you may use Sakon, Ukon, and Ranmaru for your ultimate kinjutsu, I believe that you'll need it if you want to defeat Guy's eight gates technique." ordered Kabuto, the four shinobi in question all simply nodding their heads in confirmation.

"Good, for the demon brothers, we want you to take care of the Inuzuka clan head, Inuzuka Tsume! You'll be given a squad to help you fend off the Inuzuka clan, but your individual goal as leaders is to kill their clan head! Do you understand?" asked Kabuto.

"Hai! Kabuto-sama!" saluted the duo.

"Good! To the Hoshi clan, you will lead an assualt on the Aburame clan, Hokuto will kill the heir of the Aburame clan and you, Hoshi Natsuhi, will have the responsibility to kill your opposite number."

"Naturally...!" was all the Hoshi clan headmistress said, a beautiful woman with violet hair and dark green eyes, wearing simply a red Oto flak-jacket and tight black shorts with black ninja sandals.

"The Fuma clan, you will attack Yamanaka clan and naturally, Arashi will have to kill his opposite number, Yamanaka Inoichi!" said Kabuto, with Arashi simply nodding his head in understanding on behalf of himself and the Fuma clan.

"Haku, we want you, Suigetsu, Isaribi and Yukimaru to lead an assault against the Hyuga, Akimichi and Nara clans, Pakura of the hidden sand will also aid you with some of her Suna comrades. While this is going on, Juugo, Naruto, and Gaara will be used to attack the centre of Konoha, the three of you will be the muscle of the operation. You are to cause as much harvoc and distruction as possible. Karin will lead the medical orps and will save as many Oto lives as possible, only joining the battle if it becomes absolutely neccessary, that goes for you too...Amaru! Focus on healing the wounded and only use the Reibi if neccessary!" ordered Kabuto, getting nods of acknowledgement from the relevant parties.

"There will be a squadron outside the village that will summon Orochimaru-sama's three headed snake, the same squad will be tasked with the destribution of Naruto-kun's **flying thunder god **kunais. We want you to take them out as fast and swifly as possible. Got it Naruto-kun?" asked Kabuto.

"Hai! Kabuto-sama!" saluted Naruto.

"Right, Yakumo, we know about your personal vendetta, so we have decided, that you should be tasked with the assassination of Sarutobi Asuma, Mitarashi Anko, and Yuhi Kurenai! When that is done, you will place the whole of Konoha under your Genjutsu while they are distracted with war, and then we will take care of the rest! Guren, you take care of the A.N.B.U commander! Do any of you have any questions or does anyone not understand what they have to do?" asked Kabuto.

"Hai! What about me?" asked Fu curiously, wondering why she was left out of the war plans, she was supposed to be one of Oto's military weapons wasn't she?

"Fu-chan, it pains me to say this, but you cannot go to the chuunin exams nor will you participate in the invasion..."

"What! but why?" asked Fu angrily.

"Because, you've only been training for six months, Takigakure completely neglected your training before we found you, as a result, you can only use two of the Nanabi's wings at your current level! You're not ready to use your powers in a war, plus, we don't want the outside world to know about you until we're confident that you can protect yourself! Remember, Akatsuki is still a lingering danger to be weary of, and we can't be sure that they won't take advantage of the upcoming war! You'll have to stay behind and take care of Oto while we're gone! Ami will take your place in the **flying kunoichi squad **for the chuunin exams." said Kabuto in a no nonsense voice, making it clear that this was not up for discussion.

"This sucks!" shouted Fu in frustration.

"Don't worry Fu-chan, me and Suzu-chan have set up a training schedule for you to use while we're gone, also, we will personally give you some two on one training when we return! You see, our plan doesn't just end with the Konoha invasion, there is another phase of the plan that we will initiate a month and a half after the invasion, and you are a key figure in that particular phase." said Naruto, trying to pacify the fellow jinchuuriki's frustration.

"Really? You promise Naruto-k..sensei?" asked Fu happily.

"Hai, I promise!" said Naruto, reasuring the Nanabi jinchuuriki of her importance to Oto.

"Alright!" exclaimed Fu, pumping her fist up in the air victoriously.

_'I get to have one on one training with Naruto-kun and I get to be part of a secret important plan, this is so cool!' _thought Fu happily.

"Alright, that's it for now, you will each receive a full written and detailed plan before we depart for the chuunin exams, but before we conclude the meeting, Orochimaru-sama wanted to know what you plan to do about your appearance Naruto-kun? We were thinking that you should wear a mask to cover your head like some of our Jonin do, and take up a codename to use as an alias." suggested Kabuto.

"What...? Na! I have a better idea, I've been working on this for the past few months, check this out!" said Naruto, focusing his chakra to initiate a transformation. Everyone watched in anticipation, waiting eagerly to see what the blonde was up to, and neither did he disappoint, because right in front of their eyes was a new transformation, the blonde executing an incomplete shark transformation. His eyes turned white like they did in his transformed state and his skin also turned light blue, the whisker marks on his cheeks turned into gills and his hair also turned dark blue, his triangular teeth however remaining the same.

"Everyone, I would like for you to meet Hoshigaki Kisame's cousin, Hoshigaki Arashi!" exclaimed Naruto dramatically, causing everyone to just stare at him in disbelief, Isaribi however the only person that wasn't disapointed, blushing furiously at her Naruto-kun's new look, unable to stop the images of this version of Naruto with herself in her Kaima mode doing naughty things together under and above the surface of the water.

"Fool! That is the most stupid thing I have ever heard of! What do you think Kisame will do when he hears about you! That would just lead the Akatsuki straight to you!" hissed Orochimaru.

"I'm inclined to agree with Orochimaru-sama on this one Naruto-koi." said Yakumo with apologetically.

"Ahh come on, is it really that much of a bad idea? I mean no one would be able to recognise me at all. And I worked so hard on this transformation, you mean to tell me that all that was for nothing?" whined Naruto childishly.

"Umm...I'm sure you could find other uses for it Naruto-sensei? I could think of a few ideas...if given enough time" trailed off Isaribi, blushing heavily at having to say something so perverted, yet hoping no-one would be able to read between the lines.

_'Oh my god that pervert!' _thought Guren, giving the 12 year old a knowing smirk that made her avert her eyes to the ground.

"Yeh...um...sure! Thanks Isa-chan!" replied Naruto nervously, not needing to think too much to get what Isaribi was implying.

"Hmmm...alright, the exams are in two weeks time, you have until then to come up with a better plan! Until then, meeting adjourned!" exclaimed Kabuto, effectively concluding the meeting.

**Konoha: Two weeks to the Chuunin Exams...**

_'I finally found you...Namikaze Naruto!' _Thought Nii Yugito, a beautiful and curvaceous 18 year old Jonin Kunoichi from Kumogakure no Sato with long, straight blonde hair bound with taut banages and dark eyes, wearing a short-sleeved black and purple blouse and black pants with of which have cloud designs on them. She is also wearing red belt around her waist, purple fingerless gloves, and a chain of white beeds wound around her left hand with bandages worn around her arms and legs. A Kumo forehead protector is worn around her head and a weapons pouch strapped to her right thigh.

She was standing at the entrance of the Ichiraku Ramen Stand of Konoha, looking into the stand, or rather, staring at the back of a 12 year old, blonde haired and blue eyed boy wearing an orange jumpsuit and blue ninja sandals. She'd been in Konoha for three days already and this was the first time that she couldn't sense any presences close to the boy, in other words, the first time she could get him on his own.

Initially, the mission was supposed to be easier than this, she would accompany Killer Bee and his Team to Konoha, acting as a body guard for him and his team while secretly completing her real mission...to bring the Kyubi Jinchuuriki, Uzumaki Namikaze Naruto back to Kumogakure no Sato, willingly or by force if neccessary. But there were some complications already, she could sense the Kyubi's chakra inside the boy, but for some reason she could yet explain, she couldn't communicate with the boy using the bijuu communication link like she could with Killer Bee, also, both Nibi and Hachibi claimed that while they could still sense her chakra, they could not feel Kurami's actual presence at all inside the boy. This made Yugito worried because all this time, they had never believed Konoha's claims that the Yellow Flash had killed not just any bijuu, but the nine tails itself...

_'But considering the circumstances...than...could it be true?' _thought Yugito with a small frown.

_**"That sounds scarier than I would like to have to admit kitten, let us just be glad that Kurami was able to take the Yellow Flash to the afterlife with her." **_replied Nibi.

_"Yeah! Thank goodness for that!" _was Yugito's only response.

_**"Yes...but what are you goint to do now? Are you still going to capture him?" **_asked Nibi curiously.

_"Well, he is still Uzumaki Kushina and Namikaze Minato's son, and he still has Kurami's chakra inside of him, so yes, I still plan to complete the mission." _replied Yugito confidently.

_**"You sound not only confident but excited too, what are you planning kitten?" **_asked Nibi, unable to contain her curiosity.

_"Why Nibi-chan...I'm going to seduce the Yondaime Hokage's son of course! I'll have him eating and dancing on the palm of my hand in no time! Just you wait and see!" _replied Yugito sensually, an arrogant smirk plastered on her face, heading straight for the stool right next to Naruto's, her hips swinging from left to right seductively.

"Good afternoon mam and welcome to Ichiraku Ramen, I'm Ichiraku Ayame, how my I help you today?" asked Ayame, a beautiful 18 year old girl with brown eyes, fair skin, and long brown hair, wearing a white robe with folded sleeves, a dark blue apron with ribbon ties at the top and a bright white bandana.

"Nii Yugito, Kumogakure Jonin, pleased to meet your aquintance... Ayame-chan! Word is...that you serve the best ramen dish in Fire Country...?" trailed off Yugito with a playful smirk, seating herself on the stool right next to the blonde Uzumaki.

"Um...ehehehe...w-well I don't know about that b-but we do try our best to cater for every customer's unique tastes!" sputtered Ayame, blushing furiously at the blonde's kunoichi's praise.

"Haaah! Ichiraku's ramen is not just the best in the country, it's the best in the world...no...actually...it's the food of the gods! Pretty Kumo nee-chan, you'll try it if you know what's good for you, you'll never be the same again!" exclaimed Naruto with a stupid pose, one that he thought was cool and impressive.

"Heh...well, in that case, why don't I have a bowl of each ramen flavor for starters." replied Yugito casually, placing what should be a ridiculous order for a woman of such a fine figure.

"What! B-but how can you hope to finish even half of a meal like that?" exclaimed Ayame, pointing a shaky finger at the blonde beauty. Naruto on the other hand had stars in the place of his eyes, looking up at the blonde beauty in passionate admiration.

"What are you talking about, that was just for starters, I still have yet to place the real order." said Yugito nonchalantly, leaving Ayame slack jawed in shock and disbelief.

"B-but Yugito-san..."

"Maa maa not need for formalities, you can call me Yugito-chan or just Yugito if you want." replied Yugito dismissively, cutting Ayame off mid-sentence.

"Yes, but I still don't understand Yugito-chan, how can you possibly think that you can fit that into your stomach, and even if you could, how do you maintain such a fine figure eating like that?" asked Ayame disbelievingly.

"Heeeh...have you been checking me out Ayame-chan? I didn't know that you swing like that?" asked Yugito mischieviously.

"N-nani! A-ayame nee-chan! Y-you...you...!" sputtered Naruto, one arm pointing at his surrogate sister shakily, the other wiping the blood dripping from his nose with the back of his sleeve, his mind filled with visions of Yugito and Ayame, both butt naked, doing naughty things to each other inside a large bowl of ramen.

"S-shut up! It's not like that! And stop avoiding the question, how is it possible for you to stuff that much food?" exclaimed Ayame indidgnantly.

"Hahahahahaha! Ahahahaha! Man you should have seen the look on your face...priceless!" laughed Yugito angelically, causing Ayame to twitch irritably.

_'Wow...she's so beautiful, kinda reminds me of a cat for some reason, but still, how can someone be so beautiful! She's even better looking than Kurenai-sensei!' _thought Naruto, eyes scanning every single inch of the godess sitting next to him while she was distracted, not knowing that she was not only already on to him, but had been counting on this kind of reaction.

"Alright, I'm done teasing you now, so you really want to know why I can eat so much huh...or rather, why I **have **to eat so much?" asked Yugito rhetorically, now spotting a serious expression on her face, all fun and games a thing of the past.

"What do you mean...have to?" asked Naruto curiously, Ayame nodding her head in agreement as well.

"Well, you see, people with a lot of chakra tend to need more food and nutrients in order to sustain their bodies than people with less chakra. You see, my chakra levels are much larger than most people, and hence, I have to eat a lot more than most people." explained Yugito simply.

"But that doesn't make sense, not even Hokage-sama eats that much!" retorted Ayame.

"I hate to break to you, but it is entirely possible and very likely that Hokage-dono's chakra capacity is nothing compared to mine! Do not take my words lightly when I say that my chakra by far exceeds that of most shinobi. The only one in this village that could match my chakra capacity is Naruto-kun right here." said Yugito, ruffling the blonde Uzumaki's hair affectionately.

"N-Naruto-kun/Me?" question Ayame and Naruto simulataneously.

"Hai, your father was the Yondaime Hokage, Namikaze Minato, and your mother was the heiress of the Uzumaki clan that had strong chakra and longetivity, the former Kyubi Jinchuuriki, Uzumaki Kushina, also...you're the current jinchuuriki of the Kyubi, thus, your chakra reserves will probably exceed everyone in the elemental nations." said Yugito, dropping a bomb right in the middle of the Ichiraku Ramen stand.

_**"What in the pits of makai are you doing kitten! If this is what you call seduction than perhaps you should go back to basic training, because clearly you have no idea what the hell you are doing!" **_shouted Nibi furiously.

_"I know what I'm doing! This boy is too young and naive for a straight forward seduction to work, I need to break him mentally and emotionally first, at which point, after I reveal our shared burden, he will be forced to recognise me as the only person that could understand him. I will become his shoulder to cry on and share my pain with him, creating a near unbreakeable bond between us! Nibi, you should be taking notes, this is what I call emotional seduction!" _bragged Yugito confidently.

_**"..." **_Nibi didn't bother to respond, her pride halting her from admitting her mistake and overeaction.

"M-my father...is the Yondaime Hokage...? I have a clan and a...a m-mother?" sputtered Naruto, eyes wide in shock, hurt, and confusion. Ayame on the other hand was rendered completely speechless at the sudden turn of the conversation, unable to utter out even a single phrase to comfort her surrogate otouto, but yet subconsciously putting two and two together in her head, the picture starting to become clearer in her mind.

"Hai! Here is the proof if you don't believe me..." said Yugito, pulling out a black book from her supplies pouch and placing it right in front of the blonde.

"This is Raikage-sama's personal bingo book, if you turn to page 4, you'll see the entry on your father, on page five is one of your mother..." Naruto didn't wait for Yugito to finish her explanation, snatching the bingo book with great haste and paging through to the relevant pages eagerly, skipping straight to page 5 to look at the entry of his mother, desperately wanting to know if what Yugito said was true, if she was lying...he didn't think he would be able to stop himself from trying to kill her. But that wouldn't be neccessary, call it instinct, call it intuition, call it whatever you like, but Naruto knew it as soon as he saw her face, deep down, he knew without a shadow of a doubt that the beautiful, blue eyed and red haired goddess in that picture was his mother.

Naruto couldn't help it, he remembered, the day after his 7th birthday that he promised himself to never cry again in his life, but he just couldn't help it, all the willpower in the world was not enough to hold back the tears that started to leak from his ocean blue eyes, all the while sunconsciously tracing his fingers around the picture affectionately, effectively burning the image into his mind permanently.

_'Naruto-kun...' _thought Ayame, not knowing whether to be sad, suspicious, or happy, everything happening too fast for her mind to properly process.

"She's beautiful isn't she...?" said Yugito softly, right hand massaging the blonde Uzumaki's scalp soothingly.

"She...sniff...she's an angel...sniff...she's a real angel!" cried Naruto.

"Yeah...you know, you should read the rest of her entry, you can learn a bit more about yourself, your heritage, and your past just by reading her entry. Raikage-sama fought against your parents many times, he knows them better then most people." suggested Yugito slyly, Naruto, not wanting to lose the opportunity quickly did as he was instructed, just incase Yugito decided she wanted her book back or someone decided to interupt the moment.

**Name: **Uzumaki Namikaze Kushina

**Rank: **Jonin

**Clan: **Uzumaki Clan

**Affiliation: **Konohagakure no Sato

**Affinities: **Water, Wind

**Bloodline Limit: **Uzumaki strong body, Uzumaki Longetivity, Uzumaki strong chakra, Uzumaki high chakra capacity, Bijuu Supressing Chakra

**Special Abilities: **Uzumaki Sealing and Barrier Techniques, Yin/Yang Release

**Taijutsu: **S

**Kenjutsu: **A

**Genjustsu: **B

**Ninjutsu: **S

**Sealing/Barrier arts: **SS

**Extra Infor: **Heiress of the Uzumaki clan of Uzushiogakure no Sato who was said to have special chakra even amongst the Uzumaki. Was the secret lover of the Fourth Hokage, Namikaze Minato and was the former jinchuuriki of the Kyubi which is now sealed into her son, Uzumaki Naruto.

A dangerous user of the rare and mostly unknwon Yin/Yang release, using it to manifest indestructable chains from her chakra and using them to supress her victim's chakra while simultaneously incapacitating or simply crushing her victims. The chains have also been used as a medium for her seals and barriers on many occasions.

Has completely tamed her bijuu and able to use various jinchuuriki states, with the result that her ninjutsu and taijutsu techniques are exponentially powered and executed at far greater speeds.

Aproach with caution and do not attack alone, avoid her completely if possible.

**Name: **Namikaze Minato

**Rank: **Jonin, Kage

**Clan: **N/A (Suspected to be of Senju decent)

**Affiliation: **Konohagakure no Sato

**Affinitties: **lightning, Wind

**Bloodline Limit: **N/A

**Special Abilities: **Flying Thunder God Technique, Uzumaki Sealing/Barrier arts, Shape Manipulation, Ultra speed/relexes/reaction time and toad summoner.

**Taijutsu: **S

**Ninjutsu: **S

**Genjutsu: **B

**Sealing/Barrier arts: **SS

**Extra Info: **Uzumaki Kushina's secret lover/husband and father to the Kyubi Jinchuuriki, Uzumaki Namikaze Naruto. A master practitioner of Space-Time/Speed techniques created with the knowledge and expert application of Uzumaki Secret Sealing Kinjutsu.

All shinobi of whatever rank should flee on sight of this man or risk dying before the blink of an eye. The fastest and probably smartest man in the world, a man who has mastered almost all fields of ninjutsu, a man that can never be surpassed!

"Look at the picture...you look just like your father. You know...you can keep this bingo book if you like, Raikama-sama has many other copies." said Yugito softly, causing Naruto to frown in suspicion and curiosity.

"Why are you doing this...why did you show me this and why are you so interested in my wellbeing?" asked Naruto, remembering Mizuki had also given him special attenton before trying to kill him on the same day.

"I thought I told you earlier, I'm the nibi jinchuuriki. I know exactly how you feel, I've had to endure a similar pain to what you have gone through! When a person becomes a jinchuuriki, a hole is torn open into their heart because of the way people look, talk, and act differently around you, it breads and grows an overwhelming shadow that slowly but surely overwhelms your heart. Because of this, we jinchuuriki become trapped in a whirlpool of darkness, trapped in the struggle to find something, just anything to help fill that gaping hole in our hearts. The bijuu prey on a that kind of heart in order to gain their own freedom, but in my village there are two jinchuuriki, the jinchuuriki of the eight tails, Killer Bee has already found something to pluk that gaping hole in his heart, he and Raikage-sama became brothers when he was still young and on that day, the gaping hole in his heart will refilled and he gained the strength to tame the eight tails..."

"Naruto-kun, you asked me why I had taken such an interest in you, you asked me why I was helping a mere stranger, but what you don't realise is that you aren't just a mere stranger to me, I have read your profile and kept tabs on you for almost a year now, I know you better than you might think...basically, what I'm saying is, I believe that you are the one that can fill that gaping hole in my heart, and I want to be the one to fill up yours, I want us to be the suns that illuminate each others hearts and banishes the darkness human's have implanted in us, I believe that you and I can do great things together, what do you say...Naruto-kun?" asked Yugito after a very well rehersed and passionate speech, trying to use the blonde Uzumaki's emotional vulnerability for her own gain.

"Wait...I...I don't understand, are you trying to get Naruto-kun to run away with you to Kumo, or are you asking him to be your...y-your boyfriend?" asked Ayame in alarm.

"Both." replied Yugito simply, causing Ayame's eyes to widen in horror.

"What! Y-you...you can't do that! Naruto-kun belongs here with us! He's going to be the next Hokage! I won't allow you to destroy his dream!" exclaimed Ayame passionately.

"I see...so you have a big crush on Naruto-kun too huh? You don't have to make-up excuses for him to stay by your side you know, you can just come with us." said Yugito as if it was the most obvious thing in the world, causing Ayame to sputter a bunch of incoherent sentences, a deep shade of red spreading across her face uncontrollably.

_**"You're moving way too fast kitten! You should have waited at least a week before getting to this stage of your plan, you're going to blow this whole mission into oblivion at this rate!'**_amonished Nibi, disappointed it her container's amateur methods.

_"You don't understand! Naruto-kun is Konoha's military weapon and the Yondaime Hokage's legacy, he is under constant watch and supervision, I'll never be able to get this close to him again, just look how long it took just to find this window of opportunity! You know as well as I do that we'll be watched the next time we meet together with him, I won't be able to reveal these secrets at that point in time without someone interfering." _ explained Yugito.

_**"Hmmm...fair enough! But I still think we should have just waited until after the chuunin exams and than just take him by force, we could have simply explained everything to him back in Kumo." **_retorted Nibi.

_"Negative! That method has been tried before and it failed during the Hyuga incident 9 years ago, Konoha will be expecting us to try something like that. This method is better, the mission will become a whole lot easier if we can get Naruto-kun to collaborate with us for his escape..."_

_**"And what if , despite everything, he still refuses your offer, what will you do then?" **_

_"If it comes down to that...than I will take him by force! He only has a choice of whether he comes willingly or not, because otherwise he's already mine!" _said Yugito possessively.

_**"You seem to have an unhealthy obsession with completing this mission, I don't think this is a matter of maintaining your hundred percent mission completion record any longer, you have a personal investment in this mission don't you?" **_asked Nibi suspiciously.

_"This is my only chance of obtaining a life partner, he is still young enough for me to mold him into the man I need him to be, I'll never find anyone like him in my lifetime again! So yes...you're right, this has more to it than Kumo obtaining a military weapon, this is about me also securing a future for myself, namely, I'm doing this for my sake just as well as Kumo's sake...just as well as Naruto-kun's sake!" _explained Yugito.

_**'Oh Yugito...I'm so sorry, this is all my fault!' **_thought Nibi sadly.

_**"I see...well...goodluck with that." **_was all Nibi said, trying and successfully maintaining her detached persona, not willing to show just how sad she really was.

"Yugito nee-chan..." trailed off Naruto, looking down at the picure of his father with his eyes covered by his hair darkly.

"Yes Naruto-kun?" asked Yugito curiously.

_'Has he already made his decision...?' _thought Yugito in anticipation.

"I appreciate what you have done for me, I really do..."

"But...?" asked Yugito with narrowed eyes, cutting the blonde off mid-sentence.

"I can't leave with you to Kumo, my life in Konoha is not nice, far from it, but still, I've finally met people who acknowledge my existence, and I'm just starting to make more friends in the village, people are starting to see the real me, finally, I'm starting to realise the goal that I set up to achieve, to get people to acknowledge and respect me, and to one day become Hokage! If I leave now with you, that would mean that the villagers have finally won, that would mean that I have done what I promised to never do in my life, that would mean that I have forsaken myself and given up! I will become Hokage and change the people of the village for the better, and when I become Hokage, I will change Kumogakure for you too...Yugito nee-chan!" exclaimed Naruto passionately, making direct eye contact with Yugito, a bright fire of determination burning in his eyes.

_'Yata! That's the Naruto-kun that I know and love!' _thought Ayame happily.

"Hehe...hehehe...hahahahahaha! Ahahahahahaha!" laughed Yugito hysterically, holding onto her stomach as if she were in pain, causing Naruto to snarl in anger, God how he hated it when people mocked him for his dream, was it really so hard to believe that he could make aa great Hokage?

"What are you laughing at!" exclaimed Naruto furiously, a fury mixed with a bit of embarassment.

"Tell me...Naruto-kun, when did you decide that you wanted to become the Hokage, in other words, who was it that inspired you to want to become the next Hokage...who told you that you could gain love and respect if you became Hokage?" asked Yugito cryptically, trying to get the blonde Uzumaki to come up with the answers himself.

"W-what the hell does that have to do with anything!" demanded Naruto in frustration.

"Just answer the question...!" retorted Yugito in frustration, causing Naruto to frown in concentration, trying to recall the foggy memories of his past.

"Jiji used to tell me stories about the past Hokages and the will of fire! I remember this one day we were going to come and eat at Ichiraku's, and I saw how the people looked up to him, how much they loved and admired him, remembering the stories of the past Hokages, especially ones about the fourth, I decided that I would do everything in my power to become just like them, no...actually, not to become just like them, but to surpass all of them! That is what I am going to do!" said Naruto with determination.

_'Just as I thought...now...to rip a few gaping holes into his ideology...' _thought Yugito.

"Let us see...tell me Naruto-kun...how did you find out about the Kyubi sealed inside of you? Was it the Sandaime Hokage that told you?" asked Yugito, suppressing the sinister smirk that was threatening to split her face.

"Umm...well...no..., it wasn't him!" said Naruto with an dark but mostly unreadable expression.

"I see, and was it him that told you about your mother and father?" asked Yugito again, causing Ayame's eyes to widen in horror, having a good idea where this conversation was headed, but unable to do anything to stop it herself, her own curiosity peaked to its maximum.

"N-no...!" replied Naruto with a look that was a mixture of realisation and anger.

"Oh, and what about your clan status, and your true home village that was destroyed, Uzushiogakure no sato? Was it him that told you about those things?" asked Yugito, this time unable to stop a smile from splitting her angelic face.

"N-no!" replied Naruto with a snarl on his face.

"Exactly Naruto-kun, exactly! The person you look up to and admire, the person who...'inspired' you to want to become the next Hokage is the same person who has been lying and deceiving you all this time...you need to get your facts straight Naruto-kun, he didn't 'inspire' you, he manipulated you!" said Yugito out loud, slamming the reality into the blonde, the blonde Uzumaki recoiling as if struck by a knuckle busted fist.

"N-no...! I-it can't be!" thought Naruto out loud with a cracking voice, his eyes dimming in despair, the bright fire that was previously burning a thing of the past now. It was almost as if a switch had been pressed inside his mind, the cogs working furiously to put all the pieces together, truth is, everything Yugito said made a lot of sense and confused him at the same time. Sure, he could do or say nothing to refute what she said, jiji did lie and deceive him about things that were too important to him, things that he thought no one had a right to deny of anyone. Everyone deserved to know who they are and where they come from, but the real issue here was not what jiji did, the real question was...WHY? Why did he do it, why was he lied to all this time, why did jiji deny him something so personal and important to him.

"D-don't listen to her Naruto-kun! She's just trying to trick you! I'm sure Sandaime-sama had a good reason for not telling you!" exclaimed Ayame, trying to reconcile the damage that the blonde haired feline woman had caused.

"Oh yeah, like what?" asked Yugito sarcastically, rolling her eyes at the brown haired chef.

"I umm...maybe...because...because...?"

"Maybe he didn't tell him because he wanted to protect him!" said a male voice from behind the jinchuuriki duo.

"Hatake Kakashi, nice of you to join us...I haven't seen you since the day we arrived in Konoha." greeted Yugito nonchalantly, not even turning around to face the Konoha Jonin.

_'She doesn't seem surprised by my appearance...how long has she known I was here?' _thought Kakashi wearily.

"I don't appreciate you trying to corrupt my student, I'd suggest you leave! I don't want to see you near him again!" ordered Kakashi.

"Heh...cocky bastard, just because you were the Yondaime Hokage's student does not mean that you have any authority over me! I'll go where I want to go, I haven't done anything illegal!" retorted Yugito with feigned anger, really, she actually wasn't angry at all! Oh not one bit, she'd sensed him coming from a mile away already, she'd memorized his scent and chakra signature the day she arrived in the village after all. Not only was she not surprised by his arrival, she wasn't even surprised by his reaction, it was actually a reaction she had been counting on. The only reason she pretended to be angry was because it gave her the excuse to point out is status as the Yondaime Hokage's student without being too obvious, knowing exactly how the blonde Uzumaki would react.

"Kakashi-sensei...you were my father's student? Than, you also knew about my father and never told me!" exclaimed Naruto accusingly.

"It...it's not as simple as that Naruto...!"

"So you did know you bastard..."!

"Calm down Naruto!" exclaimed Kakashi angrily, blasting the young Uzumaki with a sizeable dose of killing intent.

"Don't jump to conclusions! What have I taught you about looking underneath the underneath!"

"K-Kaka...!"

"Start acting like a real shinobi and analyze the situation, this woman has clearly been sent here to capture you so that you can become a military weapon for Kumo! This is not the first time they've tried something like this, they almost abducted one of your comrades nine years ago, I believe you know her, Hyuga Hinata!" said Kakashi, trying to turn the tables on Yugito, causing Naruto's eyes to widen in shock, a betrayed expression directed towards Yugito.

"You should take your sensei's advice and look underneath the underneath Naruto-kun, can't you see that he only brought this up in order to deflect your questions. He's trying to distract you from the fact that he and the Konoha higher ups have been lying, deceiving, and manipulating you all this time! It is true that Kumo tried to abduct the Hyuga heiress, but that was under the orders of the Sandaime Raikage, who has now passed on! I'll also admit that I have an emotional attachment to you and I may want you to leave with me, but this has nothing to do with Kumo sending me here to abduct you, It is about me helping out a fellow jinchuuriki, it is about love! Read the situation carefully Naruto-kun, who is the real deceiver here?" said Yugito passionately.

"Naruto, you are a Konoha shinobi, if you leave with her, you will become a traitor to the village, do you know what happens to traitors?" asked Kakashi with a sinister undertone. He was clearly not going to win against a silver tongued bitch like Nii Yugito, his best bet now was to instill enough fear into Naruto that he wouldn't even consider betraying the village.

"The only traitor here is the Sandaime Hokage Naruto-kun! You are a person of Royal blood, the prince of a once great nation and son of two great shinobi that sacrificed their lives and shed alot of blood for this village. Yet how do they honour their sacrifice, they scorn you, humiliate you, lie to you, deceive you, manipulate you, and make you live in suffering and poverty! Are these the kind of people you want to serve and protect...Naruto-kun?" asked Yugito rhetorically.

"Don't listen to her Naruto! Sandaime-sama wanted to protect you from your father's enemies, if people found out that you were Minato-sensei's son, you would have been in grave danger, your father's enemies would have sent assasins after you..."

"Lies lies lies, just more and more lies Naruto-kun! They still gave you the name Uzumaki, do you know how many enemies the Uzumaki clan had? Do you know how many enemies your mother had? Nations banded together to destroy your home village just because they feared the power of the Uzumaki, and Konoha, their allies, did nothing to help! They simply washed their hands off of the matter, and used your mother to secure their own home by turning her into a jinchuuriki. They didn't hide your heritage to protect you, they hid your heritage because they wanted to manipulate you! If they wanted to protect you, they would not have given you the name 'Uzumaki'! Also, think carefully, you were able to keep the secret of your jinchuuriki status from leaking out, if I'm not mistaken, you have yet to tell a soul about it since you found out, what then made them think that you couldn't keep a secret? Couldn't you have kept the secret about your lineage as well, after all, isn't the knowledge of the Kyubi just as dangerous as your lineage? And what about your mother and father's jutsu? What about their house, aren't there any gifts and jutsu that they would have left for you there, family jutsu Naruto-kun? If they wanted to protect you, wouldn't they have given you access to your family's jutsu so that you could protect yourself? No no no Naruto-kun, they didn't want to protect you, they wanted you to be weak and ignorant so that they can control you! They fear your potential and want to supress it, they just want you to be their little toy that they can control at will!"

"Enough! Naruto! Can't you see what she is doing? Look deeply into yourself and search for the truth, you know deep down what the real truth is! You are a shinobi of Konoha with the greatest will of fire, don't let trash like her take that away from you!" exclaimed Kakashi frantically, appealing to the blonde Uzumaki's will of fire.

"Nonsense! The will of fire is the greatest deception Naruto-kun! Nothing but propaganda that the higher ups use to bind people to their will! Think carefully Naruto-kun, wasn't it the will of fire that the Sandaime Hokage used to deceive you all this time...?" trailed off Yugito, causing Naruto's eyes to widen in realisation.

"I do not know what you'll decide Naruto-kun, but I want you to know that I'll always be there for you no matter what! Even if you choose to believe Konoha, I'll always be there for you when you need me...because...because I have fallen in love with you, you are my light in the darkness, you are my sun!" said Yugito, pulling the blonde into a sensual kiss with his hair. At first, the blonde Uzumaki didn't return the kiss, too shocked to do anything, but after a while, started kissing back, his kiss was clumsy but the passion with which he kissed her more than made up for it. Kakashi and Ayame on the other hand just froze in place, too shocked to do anything about the current proceedings, not knowing how to react to this particular situation.

"S-stop it!" shouted Kakashi uncharacteristically, launching himself towards Yugito at great speeds, kunai in hand preparing to imbed it into her head. Yugito, with incredible relexes and inhuman agility avoided the attack completely, jumping onto the roof of the stand and imbedding her elongated claws into the ceiling, ending her seduction attempt on her target prematurely.

"You just tried to kill me, you know that is an act of war don't you? Is that what you want Kakashi-san, to be the one that started the fourth great shinobi war?" asked Yugito mockingly.

"It's not like you have left me much of a choice, if you don't want war, then you will leave Naruto alone and you will never talk to him again!" said Kakashi, pushing up his forehead protector to reveal his sharingan, showing that he absolutely meant every word that he said, preparing himself for a tough battle, one he wasn't sure that he would survive, considering who his opponent is, or rather, what she is.

"I won't let you do that! If you attack her, you'll have to attack me to!" exclaimed Naruto, jumping onto the stand in the space between Yugito and Kakashi with his arms held out to his sides.

"You'll have to get through me first before you hurt her!" exclaimed Naruto protectively, causing Kakashi and Ayame's eyes to widen in surprise and confusion.

"Naruto-kun what are you doing? She's the enemy!" exclaimed Ayame.

"Naruto...you realise that this is an act of treason?" asked Kakashi threateningly.

"Yes I do, and that makes me trash, right Kakashi-sensei?" asked Naruto rhetorically.

"Right..." replied Kakashi, hoping that his student had come to his senses.

"Then I would rather be trash, because those who abandon their friends are even worse than trash, if I'm going to be called trash anyway, than I would rather die knowing that I didn't abandon my friend!" exclaimed Naruto with determination, causing Kakashi's eyes to widen in surprise and terror, this was definitely not what he had in mind when he imparted that lesson to Naruto, it almost seemed like Naruto was manipulating his words to suit his own interests, which in a way, is exactly what he was doing, whether concious of it or not. Yugito on the other hand couldn't contain the smirk that was plastered on her face, and why would she, her plan was working better than she could have thought possible.

"How can she be your friend Naruto, you've only known her for less than an hour?" asked a perplexed Kakashi.

"Yes, it is true that I have only known her for a few minutes, but in those few minutes, she has given me more than anyone has ever given to me before! I feel like I have just discovered myself for the first time in my life! If I die here today to protect her, than I will have regrets whatsoever." said Naruto, refusing to back down from his stance.

_'He's found his resolve and is fully committed to this, despite knowing the possible consequences, and he is even resolved to killing me if he has to! This is unbelievable, if it wasn't for my sharingan, I'd be convinced that she was controlling him with some kind of genjutsu!' _thought Kakashi, steeling his own resolve.

_'In any case, I can't allow Naruto to fall into Kumo's hands, looks like I'm going to have to kill another comrade...Minato-sensei...I'm so sorry...' _thought Kakashi, blazing through a few hand seals before placing his left hand around his right wrist.

"Then you leave me no choice...**Raikiri**...!"

**End Chapter**

**First thing ama say is...it is probably important that you don't jump to conclusions about what is going to happen in the next chapter, rather wait and see.**

**Secondly, ama apologise for the cliff hanger, but I'm tired of being stuck on one chapter, I felt this was a good place to end it otherwise I would have just ended up rushing through everything.**

**In any case you have now seen the Oto genin teams, what do you guys think of them? I tried to involve all good filler characters instead of just creating OCs, atleast this way people can relate to them. Plus, I have good plans for all the ones that I hand picked.**

**Yugito...was she too hasty, reckless, and transparent, or is this all some part of an underlying scheme that she has lined up?**

**How will she react when she meets the real Naruto?**

**Oh and what do yaw think of her involvement in the story and how she was presented?**

**Part of the invasion plan was revealed, not all of it though! Oh how will Kumo's involvement in the chuunin exams affect Oto's plans for the invasion?**

**These are all things that you should probably be thinking about.**

**Anyway, I will be answering reviews when I get a chance, just too busy at the moment.**

**Spelling and grammer will be fixed up soon!**


	13. Chapter 13

**Disclaimer: **I do not own Naruto or any other series that I might use for inspiration.

**Chapter 13**

_**Chuunin Exams: Part 2**_

"Then you leave me no choice...**Raikiri**!" exclaimed Kakashi, coating his hand with a massive amount of lightning chakra, creating chirping sounds caused by the lightning oscillations.

_'So that is the legendary copy ninja's trademark assassination jutsu...heh...is he really trying to kill Naruto-kun...or is he just trying to bait me? I wonder...' _thought Yugito with a hint of amusement, if he was really trying to bait her, then she would have to give the copy nin some credit for his ruthless tactics, but then again, even if he was really trying to kill Naruto-kun, she would still give him credit for his ruthless efficiency, although, she had to question his character if he could give up on his own student so quickly.

"So...this is it huh?" asked Naruto rhetorically, adopting an uncharacteristic serious expression, his hands molded into a shadow clone hand seal.

"You made your own choices, there are consequences for choices like these!" exclaimed Kakashi, propelling himself forward at a speed that made Naruto seem like a fish out of water, the blonde unable to react at all as Kakashi thrust his hand towards his chest, right where his heart should be, but Kakashi's attack never hit home, not because he missed, and not because the target moved out of the way, but because he found his movement completely halted just before his jutsu made contact, his wrist held firmly by a very strong hand grip.

"I-Itachi...what are doing?" asked Kakashi, staring directly at the younger Jonin's three tamoe sharingan with a questioning expression.

"Funny...I was about to ask you the same thing...Kakashi-senpei?" replied Itachi monotously.

_'I...that...that's Sasuke-teme's older brother...? kuso! He saved me, if he didn't interfere, I'd have been dead by now! I couldn't even follow Kakashi-sensei's movements at all, the difference between us is still the same! Kuso! What have I been doing all this time, I haven't gotten any stronger at all! I couldn't even protect Yugito nee-chan, how am I supposed to protect my precious people if I'm so weak! kuso!' _thought Naruto, gritting his teeth in frustration, subconciously forming a fist so tight that the whites of his bones began to show on his knuckles.

_'Hmmm...Uchiha Itachi huh...so he was the one hiding under that illusion...he's very skilled, if I wasn't such a good sensor type...I don't think I would have detected his presence at all...' _thought Yugito wearily, keeping her guard up on full alert.

"That was a very hasty decision Kakashi-senpei, perhaps you should let me take care of this instead...?" asked Itachi politely, although if one read betweem the lines, they would be able to decipher that it was more a command than request, just that it was worded in the form of a question.

"No, I'm his sensei...it's my responsibilty, just make sure that the Nibi doesn't interfere...I'll take care of Naruto myself!" countered Kakashi, misinterpreting Itachi's intentions.

"I don't think you understand Kakashi-senpei...I can't allow you to kill Naruto, there are alternate solutions to situations like these besides killing. " said Itachi, causing Kakashi's eyes to narrow in suspicion.

"Itachi, you were the A.N.B.U commander not more than six months ago, you know very well how we deal with traitors! Naruto's my student, you don't know him like I do...when he sets his mind to do something, it becomes impossible to dissuade him from his decision...and he's clearly made his mind up...are you willing to allow Kumo to take him?" retorted Kakashi.

"Impossible to dissuade him...? I never thought that I would ever hear something like that from someone who possesses a sharingan...why can't I use my eyes to make Naruto forget everything that happened here today? Better yet, why can't we turn him in to Inoichi-san and make sure that this day remains permanently burried in the depths of his mind? " drawled out Itachi stoicly, speaking about the blonde Uzumaki as if he wasn't there at all, causing Kakashi's eyes to widen in surprise and realisation.

_'D-did he just talk about wiping away my memories...is something like that even possible?' _thought Naruto fearfully.

"I-I see...perhaps I was a bit too hasty, forgive me, I overeacted!" apologised Kakashi sincerely.

"..." Itachi didn't reply immediately, giving the copy ninja a scrutinizing stare, trying to detect any signs of deception from the fellow Konoha jonin with his sharingan, but unable to spot any lies.

"So...what are we going to do?" asked Kakashi curiously, determining in his mind that the genius of the Uchiha clan might already have a plan of action.

"I'm going to turn him in to the torture and interogation unit! We were not here for the entirety of their conversation, therefore, we need to first find out exactly what he knows, and then have Inoichi-san systematically replace those memories! Do not worry though, I will not report your attempt on Naruto-kun's life as you were not only acting in the interests of the village but were even acting within the limits of standard protocol. Demo..." trailed off Itachi, pausing slightly for dramatic effect.

"Naruto-kun is a special case, he is our military weapon and therefore is a key factor in maintaining the balance of power between the great shinobi nations, also...we can't be sure what would happen if he were to die, not even Sandaime-sama or Jiraiya-dono have been able to fully comprehend the mechanics behind Yondaime-sama's **four** **symbols** **seal**." explained Itachi, loosening the tight grip he had on Kakashi's wrist, the copy nin subsequently rubbing his saw wrist in order to soothe the pain.

_'Also...Naruto-kun is Kaa-sama's godson, and therefore my godbrother, I made a promise to her, I can't just allow him to die needlessly.' _thought Itachi. It was one of Mikoto's biggest regrets that she had shared with him before she died, that she had left Kushina's child to rot while she lived a luxurious and priviledged life in the relatively safe walls of the Uchiha clan. She knew that Kushina would have never let her children suffer what she had allowed Naruto to go through, that was why she had vowed during the Uchiha massacre, when her whole life had flashed before her eyes in her encounter with the traitorous Shishui, when a meeting with Kushina in the afterlife was impending, that she would do everything in her power to make-up for her mistake if she survived.

But the real world was a far cry from the dream world, the Sandaime simply refused to even allow her to visit Naruto in his apartment, nevermind adopting him into the Uchiha clan. Sarutobi saw it as a power play by the Uchiha and a means of revenge for the massacre, concluding that Mikoto only wanted Naruto in order to control the Kyubi and use it as a weapon against Konoha, that she was only using her relaionship with Minato and Kushina as a convenient excuse. Of course, the old monkey made it sound like it was Danzo and his former teammates who thought of her that way when he denied her, but she wasn't stupid, that was just Sarutobi's own convenient excuse, she'd known at least that much, it was not easy to lie or deceive a matured sharingan after all.

"I-I won't allow you to take me in that easily!" exclaimed Naruto, his hand still in a cross hand sign, preparing to unleash the largest number of shadow clones that his chakra reserve would allow him to.

"I see, that seems to be the only way to solve our problem, it's not a bad idea at all...at least this way, I won't have to lose another comrade." said Kakashi, nodding his head in approval.

"Make sure the Nibi doesn't interfere, I'll take care of Naruto-kun." ordered Itachi, turning around to face the 12 year old jinchuurki.

_'I can't believe it! These guys are casually talking about something like this as if I'm not even here...as if wiping my memories means nothing to them at all, even Kakashi-sensei!' _thought Naruto in shock, his facial expression morphing into a nasty snarl, as if he had a sour taste in his mouth.

_'I guess Yugito-chan was right...these people...these people are scum!' _thought Naruto hatefully.

_'He's preparing to use the tajuu kage bunshin no jutsu and gathering a incredible amount of chakra, I see...he's planning to use the clones as a distraction for him and Nii Yugito to escape...demo, he's making direct eye contact with my sharingan, a rooky mistake on his part.' _ thought Itachi analytically.

"You're already under the effects of my jutsu...it's over!" said Itachi with finality.

"Haah! We'll see about th..." Naruto was unable to complete his sentence, finding himself completely imobilized, his body and limbs impaled by three giant stakes that held him in place.

**"Demonic Illusion: Shackling Stakes Technique!" **whispered Itachi, only for his eyes to widen in surprise as the giant spikes that were impaling Naruto morphed into large cats made out of blue fire that were licking and carressing the blonde Uzumaki, and that one split second where he lost concentration was the moment that Naruto's shirt was torn open, an even bigger fire cat flying out of Naruto's Jinchuuriki seal at blinding speeds, it's jaw wide open in a biting motion that would have bitten the Uchiha prodigy's head off, but only for the cat to disappear just before it reached him, the tamoe in his eyes spinning around his pupil rapidly.

_'A counter genjutsu...how did he...?' _trailed off Itachi, eyes widening in realisation and shock.

_'That was the Nibi's chakra...that woman...!' _thought Itachi furiously, directing a malicious glare at the Nibi Jinchuuriki.

"W-what just happened..?" whispered Naruto in astonishment, staring at the palms of his hands in awe, as if expecting them to provide the answers.

"That was my **mouse entrapment technique**!" said Yugito, landing next to the blonde on the counter in a crouched position, almost like a cat waiting to pounce on its prey.

"My chakra was pushed out by the Nibi, Kakashi, I thought I told you to make sure she didn't interfere..." admonished Itach with a curious frown, knowing that there had to be some kind of legitimate explanation, Hatake Kakashi wasn't that incompetent as far as he knew, and he knew a lot of things.

_'Naruto was under Itachi's genjutsu a moment ago, but Naruto himself does not have the skill to break out of Itachi's jutsu...it makes sense that she would be the one to have done it, but then how...I was monitoting her with my sharingan...if she had interfered, then I should have seen it! _thought Kakashi with a confused expression.

"I was monitoring her as you commanded, she didn't even move or mold any hand seals, nor did her chakra fluctuate!" replied Kakashi.

"I see, if she didn't mold hand seals and her chakra didn't fluctuate, then it must be a time lapse jutsu that she activated before our arrival, or a jutsu she directly implanted into Naruto-kun." analyzed Itachi.

"Heh...,it is said that your powers of observation are so great that you only need to see a jutsu once in order to disect it and find a weakness, I guess you live up to your reputation after all...Uchiha Itachi...demo...there is no weakness to this jutsu..." said Yugito with a sinister smirk.

"What do you mean Yugito-chan, and when did you activate this jutsu?" asked Naruto, staring at his fellow jinchuuriki with admiration and gratitude.

"It's a self activating jutsu that reacts when a foreign chakra tries to invade your nervous sytem. Earlier, when I was running my fingers through your hair, I placed the sealing array for this jutsu on your scalp so that no one would be able to see it. I did this in order to protect you from Konoha's Uchiha and Yamanaka clan, this is because I already suspected that they would try to erase the information that I was planning to give to you. Stored in that seal is Nibi's chakra and my will to protect you, the seal releases short but powerful bursts of chakra whenever a foreign chakra enters your system and overpowers it by pushing it out of your body. Naruto-kun...no one will ever be able to infiltrate your nervous and chakra system without your consent again." explained Yugito, causing Naruto's eyes to widen exponentially for the figurative millionth time today.

_'Of course...unless said person has chakra more potent then Nibi's, which is unlikely to happen...' _thought Yugito confidently.

"A-arigatou Yugito-chan...thank you so much!...sniff...!" cried Naruto, shedding tears of happiness and gratitude.

_'This woman is well versed in the art of deception and manipulation, she has systematically trapped and caught Naruto in her mouse trap right under our noses...and she has even done it without directly breaking any laws. If we try to charge her for trying to recruit one of our own, she'll simply deny it, because she never did directly say that she was sent to recruit him, just that she wanted to be with him and that she loves him. And even when she talked about it, she used vague words like 'if and maybe' in her explanations, namely, she has simply portrayed herself as only a jinchuuriki concerned for one of her own!' _ thought Itachi in frustration.

_'Right now, we have no solid grounds to arrest her, and taking Naruto into custody would only serve to re-enforce his desire to be with her and increase his ire and distrust for us, also, wiping away his memories has become impossible, even __**tsukiyomi **__and__** koto amatsu kami **__wouldn't work against this level of a jutsu...the only thing we can do now is keep Naruto in the village under constant supervision, or perhaps...induct him into the root program for conditioning. I'll have to speak to the higher-ups about this.' _thought Itachi with concern.

"What do we do now, Itachi?" asked Kakashi.

"We're going to go and have a word with Sandaime-sama! There is nothing we can do here right now, come...let us go!" said Itachi, turning around and ubruptly walking out of the ramen stand, Kakashi following and catching up to him in a matter of seconds.

"I'm assuming that you have some sort of plan, tell me everything!" demanded Kakashi, knowing that there was no way that someone as efficient as Itachi would leave such a situation unattended to.

"Our back up has already arrived, before I revealed myself, I had already sent a crow clone to inform Tenzo of the situation! I had the clone request that he and an A.N.B,U unit arrive as soon as possible to monitor the two jinchuuriki but not to make contact unless they attempt to escape or otherwise until I signal for their help." explained Itachi.

"I see...so that's why we're leaving them unattented, because Tenzo's squad has arrived and they're keeping an eye on them."

"Hai, I have a plan that I came up with as a last resort, but it is not a plan we can implement without Hokage-sama's direct approval!" explained Itachi.

"I see..." was all Kakashi said, not asking any further questions from that point forward, knowing that he would soon find out when they confronted the Hokage anyway, a comfortable silence settling between the two prodigies,

_'They just walked away abruptly right after I detected eight powerful presences around this particular block...hmmm...they're up to something, I'll have to keep my guard up!' _thought Yugito with a frown.

"Yugito-chan..."

"Hai, what is it Naruto-kun?" asked Yugito, running her left hand through the blonde's locks affectionately.

"Umm...what are we going to do now?" asked Naruto with concern, the only reason he wasn't going on a panic frenzy right now was because of Yugito's presence. Somehow, she had a way of making it seem that everything was going to be just fine, maybe it was her composure, maybe it was her kindness, the fact that she was a jinchuuriki too, or maybe it was because she was a powerful jonin that just outwitted Kakashi-sensei and Sasuke teme's brother. It also helped that she seemed to be very knowledgeable and smart as well, whatever it was that made him feel so safe and happy around her, he knew without a shadow of a doubt that he wanted it to never go away, and that he would do close to anything to make sure of that.

"The chuunin exams will begin in two weeks, and your sensei tried to kill you a few minutes ago, I don't think he'll be of much help in preparing you for the exams! How about I help you out with your training?" asked Yugito rhetorically, giving the blonde Uzumaki a dazzling smile.

"Y-you want to train me? Y-you'd do that...you'd really do that for me?" asked Naruto in disbelief, his eyes wide in surprise.

"Well...you're still a Konoha shinobi, so I can't teach you any Kumo techniques without commiting treason, but I can help you improve some of your basic skills. I can teach you the shunshin no jutsu, help improve your chakra control, battle tactics, taijutsu, and most importantly, I can help you learn how to use the Kyubi's chakra! This should be enough to help you get promoted." said Yugito with a sly smile.

"That's awesome!" exclaimed Naruto, jumping onto the the Nibi container's torso, almost toppling her over with a tight emrace.

"Wow chill out there soldier! It won't be easy you know!" said Yugito with amusement, giggling at the blonde Uzumaki's antics.

"Thank you...thank you so much Yugito-chan...for everything! Thank you so much...sniff...!" cried Naruto.

"It's my pleasure Naruto-kun, you don't have to thank me, I'm just greatful to Kami-sama that I can finally get to spend time with you." said Yugito affectionately, returning Naruto's strong hug with a warm embrace and a wet kiss to the cheek.

"Y-Yugito-chan! I-I promise, I'll be the best student and friend ever! One day, I will become strong enough to protect you like you did for me! I won't give up until I can fulfil that dream! Yugito nee-chan I-I love you!" said Naruto from the bottom of his heart.

"I love you too Naruto-kun...I love you too...!" trailed off Yugito with a devious but ironically, genuinely happy and touched expression, tightening her hold on the shorter blonde possessively.

_'This was the final nail in the cofffin! Naruto-kun's training has been neglected his entire life and nobody has ever helped him without him bugging the hell out of them or even threatening them, to him, my offer to help with his training despite being a foreign shinobi means more to him then almost any gift he has ever received. My job here is done, I don't need to abduct Naruto-kun anymore, he will follow me back to Kumo on his own acccord, he will seek me out for training, acknowledgement, acceptence, and love!' _thought Yugito happily.

**"Indeed! That was impressive, not only did you manage to win over the boy's trust, but you managed to turn him against his own sensei and almost got Kakashi and Itachi to fight against each other! And now, you have the blonde's undying loyalty and affection...Yugito, you're one hell of manipulative bitch." **praised Nibi with amusement.

_"Why thank you Nibi-chan! That means a lot coming from you!" _replied Yugito sarcastically.

_'They look so good together, Naruto hasn't opened up this much to anyone since I've known him, is it really so wrong for them to be together? Can I really support Konoha in this situation...I mean, Kakashi-san was about to kill Naruto-kun not so long ago, and Itachi-san wanted to erase his memories...maybe Yugito-chan was right after all! Maybe...maybe Naruto-kun would be happier in Kumo then Konoha.' _thought Ayame, starting to doubt the credibility of her own home.

_'Maybe...maybe I could also be happier in Kumo...with Naruto-kun...'_

**Two Weeks Later...**

"Halt state your name and business in Konohagakure no Sato!" exclaimed the gate guard, a man who goes by the name Hyuga Gyuki, the man has long black hair with one bang covering his right eye, lavender, puliless eyes, and a slightly pointed chin and nose, wearing the standard Konoha joninn uniform complete with a green flak-jacket.

_'A Hyuga jonin as a gate guard...? konoha aren't taking any chances are they? Kuso, Ranmaru-kun's __**fuingan**__ was able to see Kurami-sama inside Naruto-kun when he was only five years old, is it even possible then for Naruto-kun to hide the Kyubi from this guy's __**byakugan**__? _thought Guren with concern.

"Otogakure no Sato elite Jonin and sensei of team 9, Guren! The three shinobi standing in front of me are my students here to participate in the chuunin exams, Tsuchigumo Hotaru, Yukimaru and Fuma Sasame from left to right. This is our documentation." replied Guren, handing over an A4 folder to the Hyuga guard, making direct contact with the Hyuga's activated byakugan, the veins connected to the Konoha jonin's eyes bulging out menacingly.

_'Otogakure no Sato, so this is the new village that is rumoured to have sprung up recently...?' _thought Gyuki, evaluating the legitimacy of both the documents and the members that they partained to with his all seeing eyes.

_'This girl's chakra capacity is incredible, and her chakra is very potent...she must be a very talented kekkei genkei user...and this Yukimaru kid has even more chakra than her... If they have people like this, then no wonder they were confident enough to enter the chuunin exams so soon after their establishment.' _thought Gyuki wearily.

"Everything seems to check out, you will however not be allowed to pass until I have verified the identities of the whole Oto contingent." ordered Gyuki authoratively.

"Hn..! Fine, do what you want." replied Guren with a bored expression, Gyuki moving on to the next team upon her confirmation.

"State your name and business in Konohagakure no Sato!" exclaimed Gyuki.

"Do you really have to say that over and over again?" asked Suzumebachi irritably.

"Standard procedure! Now please state your name and business, and hand over your documents for evaluation and recording!" ordered Gyuki monotously, barring no emotions on his facial expression.

"Tche...pompous ass!" mumbled Suzumebachi, handing over a brown folder containing hers and her team's ninja registration documents. If Gyuki heard her, then he had very good emotional control, as expected of an elite Hyuga, because he didn't even show a hint of emotion at her insult, simply snatching the documents from her fingers and doing his job, which was to evaluate said documents and record the information in the gate keeping recording system while discreatly monitoring her chakra network.

_'Masaka! How is it possible for someone to have this much chakra! She must have several times more chakra than even Hokage-sama! No...that's not all there is to it...now that I think about it, even these genin have excessive chakra levels for people of their age and rank...these people's very presence brings the chills to my spine! There's something that doesn't quite sit right about their presence...but all I can do now is to keep my eyes open and report everything I can to Hiashi-sama and Hokage-sama!'_ thought Gyuki in shock and disbelief, however not showing any outward discomfort thanks to the Hyuga emotional training.

"Otogakure elite jonin and sensei of the **konoichi flying squad**, Kamizuru Suzumebachi. Standing in front of me from left to right, Fuma Kagero, Ami, and Hoshi Hokuto!" stated the Kamizuru heiress irritably, the very sight of Konoha and its shinobi grating on her nerves. To her, the only good thing about this situation was that the gate guard was not an Aburame, otherwise she wasn't sure if she would have been able to hold her temper.

"Everything checks out, you will however have to wait until..."

"I get it! I'm not a moron you know, just get it over and done with!" snapped the Kamizuru heiress.

"You will have to wait until I have checked out the whole Otogakure contingent before you are allowed to enter!" said Gyuki before moving on to the next team, completely ignoring the honey bee's temper tantrum, causing Suzumebachi to twitch furiously.

"State your..."

"Otogakure elite jonin and team 8's jonin sensei, Kurama Yakumo! Standing next to me from right to left are my students here for the chuunin exams, Abumi Zaku, Tsuchi Kin, and Kinuta Dosu!" said Yakumo hastily, cutting out the Hyuga before he could repeat that irritating phrase again as she pushed the documentation into his hands.

_'She...she's their jonin sensei? But she doesn't even look a day older then they are...she's just a twelve year old!' _thought Gyuki hysterically, not missing the fact that she in actual fact did possess a substantial amount more chakra then he himself did, and he was a jonin of the elite Hyuga clan of Konoha. Of course it wasn't the first time he had heard of shinobi making jonin at such a young age, Hatake Kakashi and Uchiha Itachi were prime living examples, Itachi was even an A.N.B.U captain at age 13.

_'Still, young shinobi like that are not usually trusted with grooming young genin as they are still growing and maturing themselves, how can you help someone grow when you yourself are not fully grown? She may have the skills, but surely she couldn't possibly have the experience!' _thought a perplexed Gyuki.

"Is there something wrong, shinobi guard-san?" asked Yakumo monotously.

"No! Everything checks out, but you will..."

"Have to stand by until you have completed your screening of the Oto contingent, I get it!" said Yakumo stoicly, cutting off the Hyuga jonin mid-sentence. She was not faring much better then Kamizuru heiress, if anything, she probably hated Konoha even more than the Kamizuru heiress despite it being her former home, or rather, because it was her former home. The only thing that consoled her was the fact that her presence here meant that she was getting closer to realising her goal, the utter destruction of Konoha and the torture and assassination of Yuhi Kurenai.

"Hn!" grumbled Gyuki, showing emotion for the first time, these Oto kunoichi were rapidly climbing his list of most irritating and rude people that he knew of.

_'I suppose I shouldn't expect more from the peasants and savages of a third rate shinobi village!' _thought Gyuki, moving on to the last of Oto's teams hastily, now truly wanting to get this demeaning job over and done with, though understanding at the same time why a Hyuga had to be the one to do this at a time like this.

"State your name and...Uzumaki Naruto...what is the meaning of this?" demanded Gyuki angrily.

"Don't be hasty shinobi-san..."

"Listen kid, I know you have a reputation that you feel you have to maintain, but this isn't the right time for your childish pranks!" growled Gyuki irritably.

"I assure you that this isn't a..."

"Listen kid..." trailed off Gyuki, cutting the blonde off mid-sentence.

"The chuunin exams will begin tommorrow, and if I'm not mistaken, you are also a participant in these exams, rather then wasting both both yours and my valuable time, shouldn't you be preparing yourself for the challenges that lie ahead? At the very least, if not that, then shouldn't you be spending this moment with your precious girlfriend? Death is after all, a realistic possibility, you might not get to see her again..." warned Gyuki with a sinister undertone, hoping that his scare tactics would dissuade the blonde from embarrasing not only himself, but the village as a whole. He didn't hate the poor boy, but he also didn't like him, as long as the kyubi remained contained, and as long as the boy's pranks didn't directly affect him or the wellbeing of the village, then Gyuki didn't care much for the blonde or his life for that matter.

_'Hehehe...so not only is my clone participating in these exams, but he also has a girlfriend and likes to prank people just like me...even though I only like pranking Orochimaru-sama.' _thought the blonde with amusement.

_'I guess Suigetsu's idea to not change my appearance wasn't such a bad idea after all...' _thought Naruto with a toothy grin, showing off his razor sharp teeth, causing Gyuki's eyes to widen in surprise and confusion.

"I apologise for the confusion Konoha shinobi-san, demo...you must have me confused with my long lost twin brother, my name is Uzumaki Namikaze Arashi, Naruto's twin brother...!" replied the blonde dramatically.

"W-what...! D-did you just say..."

"I am also an Otogakure no Sato elite jonin and sensei of Oto's team 7. Standing in front of me is my genin team here to participate in the chuunin exams, from left to right is...Isaribi, Ranmaru, and Amaru." continued Naruto, ignoring the Hyuga jonin's protests completely as he handed their documents over to the gate guard for inspection.

_'T-this...this can't be!' _thought Gyuki hysterically, eyes wide in confusion. Gyuki wasn't stupid, he was a jonin hailing from a genius shinobi clan after all, and he also knew his hystory very well, Namikaze was and is the Yondaime's last name, also, his all-seeing eyes would have detected it if the the boy had been lying, not to mention the uncanny resemblance that the boy had to the Yondaime Hokage.

_'Initially, I thought it was just Naruto playing one of his pranks, but now that I think about it, this boy is not only taller then Naruto, but he also has very distinctive facial features that seperate him from the kyubi kid! I can tell that it isn't an illusion or ninjutsu, otherwise I would have seen through it with my eyes!' _thought Gyuki, refering to the blonde's shark teeth and well built frame, not to mention the eyes that looked as animalistic as a member of the Inuzuka clan.

_'Heh...he'll never be able to see through our deception even with his all-seeing eyes! Family members, especially siblings are known to have similar but slightly different chakra signatures, and that is exactly why Naruto-kun is able to pass himself offf as the blood clone's twin brother!' _ thought Suzumebachi, elation displayed all over her facial features.

_'That samehada dna implantation has become more useful then we could have ever thought, if my chakra hadn't been altered by the shark skin, they might have been able to put two and two together and realise that one of us is a clone:' _thought Naruto, Yakumo, Guren, and Suzumebachi sharing the same line of thoughts as he was, all four of them being privy to information about Konoha's defensive systems and more specifically, Konoha's detection barrier that was surrounding the whole village, all thanks to Orochimaru and Kabuto. Therefore they knew that if the blood clone was already a registered shinobi, then his chakra signature was encoded in Konoha's detection barrier, meaning that the people monitoring the barrier would have been able to decipher that one of them had to be a clone if their chakra's had been exactly the same. But thanks to the Samehada experiment, Naruto and his clone's chakra were similar enough that the barrier moderators would be able to identify their family relations but different enough to also conclude that they were not the same person.

_'The Yondaime Hokage sealed the Kyubi into Naruto, Naruto resembles the Yondaime, and a foreign shinobi resembling Naruto has claimed to be Naruto's twin brother while using Yondaime-sama's last name...it makes too much sense to be a lie, but then...this boy's chakra network...?' _

"If you're not Uzumaki Naruto, then why does your chakra network resemble that of a jinchuuriki? All the other bijuu have been accounted for, and the Kyubi is inside Uzumaki Naruto, what does that mean...Arashi-san?" asked Gyuki, emphasizing the blonde's allias mockingly.

"It means that I am also a jinchuuriki!" replied Naruto simply.

"Impossible! There are only nine bijuu! If you admit to being a jinchuuriki, then you have to admit that you are Uzumaki Naruto!" exclaimed Gyuki accusingly, hoping to find cracks in the blonde's story, or at the very least, get an explanation out of the blonde enigma.

"Otou-san used the **dead demon consuming seal **to split the Kyubi's soul in half! A part of the Kyubi was sealed inside of me and a part of it was sealed into the Uzumaki Naruto that you know! End of Story! I'm not answering any more questions! I have provided you with mine and my teams legal dcuments and I have proven my true identity! Now stop wasting our time and let us in!" replied Naruto, abandoning his relaxed and cheerful demeanor, adopting a no nonsense and serious one in exchange

_'Wow what a slippery tongue! I can't believe he mislead that Hyuga like that without even lying. The Yondaime split the Kyubi into two and sealed the other half into himself, but Naruto-kun made it sound like he sealed one half into each twin whereas Naruto-kun only sealed some chakra into his clone by himself. Tche...I guess Yakumo-chan has been helping him out with more then his mediocre genjutsu skills.' _thought Suzumebachi.

_'Kuso! It would be much better to detain them here until I can send word out to Hokage-sama, if only I had that kind of authority, unfortunately, that would be a breech of international chuunin exam law!' _thought Gyuki in a panic.

"Fair enough! You may pass! Enjoy your stay in the village!" exclaimed Gyuki stiffly, a sour expression etched on his facial features.

"Thank you very much, you enjoy the rest of your day too!" replied Naruto cheerfully, walking past the gate guard with his team and the rest of the Oto contingent.

_'Definitely have to report this, but I'll have to contact the barrier detection squad to confirm the validity of my intel, I'll need evidence if Hokage-sama is ever to believe something like this...' _

**Hokage's Office...**

"Itachi, Shikaku, Inoichi,Tenzo, Kakashi, Iruka, Asuma, Kurenai, Anko, Ibiki, I have called you all in here to discuss the matter of Uzumaki Naruto and Nii Yugito, demo...before we we begin discussing that, Jiraiya-kun has some important information that he wants to share with us!" said Hiruzen from behind his desk on his chair, blowing a few puffs of smoke from his pipe.

Jiraiya, noting that it was his cue to speak, moved away from the window seal that he was leaning against, taking a few steps forward until he was standing right next to the Hokage on his left hand side.

He is a very tall and built man with long, white, and spiky hair that reahes all the way below his waste, with a tear trough running down each cheek from under his eyes and a horned forehead protector with the kanji for oil on it. He is wearing green pants with a green kimomo top and a red, sleeveless hoari and carries a large scroll on his back.

"Some of you may know this, but some of you may not, but, I've been tracking down and following Orochimaru's movements ever since he went rogue. Initially, I wanted to capture him and/or convince him to come back to the village, but I was never able to get that close to him, he was and is a very evasive individual!" said Jiraiya, pausing momentarily to take a breathe.

"But, my efforts were not completely futile, I managed to set up a very competent spy network during my travels, while I continued to track down Orochimaru around the elemental nations. How is this relevant..? Let me tell you, because I was tracking Orochimaru, I was able to discover an organisation composed of S-rank criminals that Orochimaru allied himself with, I do not know all of the members, or who their leader is, information is very hard to gather on shinobi of this calibre as it is hard to even get close to them without being detected, but I know this, Orochimaru and Uchiha Shihsui have connections to this organisation!" said Jiraiya, causing a few of his audience to release audible gasps in surprise, others with eyes wide in shock, all except for Hiruzen, who had already heard these news from his only loyal student.

"How many members are allied to this organisation, and what is their purpose?" asked Itachi monotously, quickly recovering from his surprise, making Jiraiya wonder if it was even there in the first place.

"I am not sure how many people are allied, but I believe there are aproximately ten mainstream members, all S class. As for their purpose...I do not know what their end plan is, but I know that one of their main goals or means to whatever their goal may be, is to hunt and capture all of the tailed beasts!" explained Jiraiya with a grave expression, causing once again, surprise to filter through his audience.

"The Akatsuki travel and work in two man cells, in other words, each Jinchuuriki will have to deal with two S class shinobi who have been partners for years! Kakashi, your chances would be unfavourable against even one of these guys, taking on two of them while protecting Naruto and his team is impossible! This situation is beyond your level, that is why I will be taking Naruto on as an apprentice after the chuunin exams, in the meantime, you take care of Sasuke and Sakura's training! If Naruto is going to live passed his teenage years, he's going to need to not only become strong, but to have a strong team to back him up as well!" said Jiraiya authoratively, not giving the younger jonin a choice in the matter.

"Uh...Hai..Jiraiya-sama...demo..."

"I've been informed about the situation with Naruto and the Nibi Jinchuuriki, I'll take care of that soon enough!" said Jiraiya matter of factly, cuttin off the copy nin mid-sentence, already knowing what he would say.

"Uh...actually, we already had an agreement with Hokage-sama and Danzo-sama..."

"I know about that too, Sensei has agreed to let me try my way first, only if I fail will that plan be allowed to take effect! Danzo is the absolute last resort!" exclaimed Jiraiya with a booming voice.

"Fair enough, is there anything else you wanted to tell us about Orochimaru, or Akatsuki?" asked Itachi.

"Actually, there is..." said Jiraiya, once again adopting a troubled expression.

"What is it?" demanded Itachi.

"There is a new Hidden Village that sprung up recently, and they have registered for the chuunin exams that begin tommorrow! They are situated in the former Rice Country, now known as Sound Country, however I have not been able to discover their exact location, nor have I been able to gleen much information about it's allied shinobi, but I do know one thing..." said Jiraiya gravely.

"What is it...?" asked Itachi curiously.

"Orochimaru has everything to do with this, he is the founder and leader of this hidden village!" said Jiraiya, causing surprise once again to filter through his audience.

"I see...tell me, is this Orochimaru's own doing or is this village a branch of the Akatsuki organisation?" asked Itachi curiously, causing Jiraiya's and Sarutobi's eyes to widen in surprise, they hadn't even thought of such a possibility.

"I...I do not know...it is a possibility...I suppose!" sputtered Jiraiya.

"So, the Akatsuki is an organisation composed of roughly ten Kage level shinobi, they have a secret hidden village and they are after the nine tailed beasts..." trailed of Anko, a woman in her early twenties with brown pupiless eyes and violet hair styled in a short, spiky, and fanned ponytail, wearing a brown trench coat with only a mesh-shirt body suit that reaches her thighs, a short, dark orange skirt and shin guards with a kunai pouch strapped to her right thigh.

"Seems like a world domination objective to me." said Ibiki, mirroring Anko's sentiments. He is a man with a large and imposing figure compounded by a ruggered face with many scars with a head covered by a black bandana, wearing a black trench coat, with a black flak-jacket underneath, black shinobi pants and black combat boots.

"I'm inclined to agree with you Ibiki, that is why we have to make war preparations, there are currently four jinchuuriki in the village, the Raikage's brother, Killer Bee of the eight tails, Nii Yugito of the two tails, our very own Naruto-kun of the Kyubi, and Kazekage-dono's son, Sabaku no Gaara of the one tailed racoon! It would be suicide for us not to be prepared for an Akatsuki attack, in fact, we should organise counter measures for an all out invasion if this Otogakure no Sato is really an Akatsuki branch." said Itachi analytically, displaying the leadership and analytical skills that earned him his former position as A.N.B.U Commander.

"No...actually, even if Oto is not part of the Akatsuki, the possibility of eight or more kage level shinobi attacking the village is not something that we can easily fend off against, not to mention, we would be severely weakened regardless of whether we win or not. That could have drastic consequences, Nii Yugito would be able to sneak away with Naruto-kun during the chaos and Kumo would find out about our weakened state and take advantage of the situation, Orochimaru and his Oto would defintely take advantage as well. In essence, the situation does not look favorable regardless of which way we look at it." said Itachi wearily.

"Hmmm...Shikaku, Tenzo, you are the Jonin and A.N.B.U commander respectively, what do the two of you have to say about this?" asked Sarutobi Hiruzen curiously, wanting to hear the opinions of other intellectuals before he made his own decision, as any good leader should.

"I am in complete agreement with him Hokage-sama, I will organise for A.N.B.U patrols around Fire Country and around the immediate vicinity of the Hidden Leaf Village. In the mean time, I will have four of my wood clones monitor the four jinchuuriki!" was Tenzo's response, a man with brown eyes and short, brown spiky hair, wearing the standard A.N.B.U uniform with his mask attached to his waste, showing a head protector resembling the one worn by the second Hokage with the leaf symbol on the forehead.

"That is a good plan, I will pass on the information to all the clan heads and instruct them to have their brethren prepair for war time, the rest of the village will be kept unaware of the situation to protect this information from possible spies! We do not want our knowledge and plans to leak out to our enemies." said Shikaku with a serious expression.

"I see...it seems like the two of you have everything under control. Tenzo, it is good that only your clones will be monitoring the jinchuuriki, because I want you to be my body guard in the duration of the chuunin exams, also, I want you to inform Hyuga Hiashi that I want him by my side as well. You, Jiraiya, and Hiashi will be my bodyguards until this whole thing has blown over. You will share this information with Uzuki Yugao and have her take over your responsibilities until further notice, are we clear?" ordered the Sandaime Hokage authoratively.

"Hai Hokage-sama!" Tenzo saluted rigidly.

_'A seal master, a Hyuga with the all seeing eyes and the ability to neutralise chakra networks, and a mokuton user as body guards, I see...this team is especially designed to combat against a jinchuuriki, or a group of them..' _thought Itachi analytically.

"Good, now...Iruka..."

"Hai Hokage-sama!" Iruka saluted respectfully.

"During the invasion...if there is an invasion, I want you and your staff to protect and escort the academy students to the special shelter reserved for civilians, we need to make sure the future wills of fire are safe and protected for Konoha's future." ordered Hiruzen.

"It would be an honour Hokage-sama, as it will be for my staff as well, we will do our best!" exclaimed Iruka passionately.

"I'm glad to hear that, Iruka! Now...we will move on to discuss the situation with Naruto-kun, but before that, does anyone want to add on to the current topic of interest?" asked Hiruzen.

"Yes, actually Hokage-sama, I was wondering why we have not involved Suna in our plans, they are our allies after all, and we could use the extra man power?" asked Kurenai with a confused expression.

"Because we can't afford to do that!" said Itachi matter of factly.

"Nani...but why? I don't understand?" asked Kurenai with a deep frown on her soft features.

"As shinobi, we are taught from an early age to lie, cheat, steal, and deceive for the sake of our own villages, that is why, even as allies, we cannot completely trust one another. Say for instance we ask for Suna's help, do you realise that would give them an excuse to bring their whole army into our own territory, in which case, wouldn't it be a complete disaster if they were to turn on us when Akatsuki attacks?" asked Itachi rhetorically, causing Kurenai's eyes to widen in realisation.

"I see...then...we absolutely can't involve them in this can we..."

"Actually, we can..." trailed off Itachi, cutting off the red eyed beauty mid-sentence.

"W-what do you mean...I thought you said..."

"That we can't ask for their help? Yes I did, but that doesn't mean that they won't be forced to help us. If there is an attack on the village, it will probably happen during the final round of the exams, in which case, Pakura and the sand siblings, Kakzekage-dono, and his body guards will be present in the village. That means, a small number of Suna's strongest shinobi will be in the village, but not the rest of their army as would have been if we asked for their help. Kazekage-dono and Suna, in this situation will not be able to betray us because of their limited resources and will be forced to help us fend off our enemies. Also, at that point in time, we can simply leak out that Akatsuki are targeting his youngest son, Gaara, which would force them to fight with us against the Akatsuki or risk loosing their own jinchuuriki. I'm sure, that between Pakura, Kazekage-dono, and the Ichibi, they could deal a lot of damage to our mutual enemy." explained Itachi.

"I-I see.." trailed off a stupified Kurenai, realising just how tough it must be to be a village leader, and how much it took just to keep a shinobi village safe and running.

"Ahem...with that now out of the way, we will move on to discuss the situation with Uzumaki Naruto and Nii Yugito! Iruka, have you made any headway with the boy?" asked the old man expectantly.

"Um...gomen Hokage-sama...I-I failed! He vehemently refused to have a one on one talk with me and insisted that Yugito be with him at all times, stating that he wouldn't let his guard down before any Konoha shinobi until he was strong enough to defend himself...Hokage-sama, he doesn't trust us anymore!" said Iruka somberly.

"Iruka...what happened, did you not talk to him then?" asked Kakashi curiously.

_'This does not look good at all, Iruka is the one person that Naruto was able to open up to, if Naruto is distancing himself even from Iruka, then we may have really lost him! Minato-sensei, what would you have done in this situation?' _thought Kakashi.

"I did, but I think that only made things worse, that woman kept interfering and saying things...things that made me out to be the enemy...she just kept twisting and twisting and twisting everything I said, she turned everything that I ever said and did for Naruto into some kind of sinister plot! Kuso, the more I tried to defend myself the more guilty she made me look, she created so much confusion that not even I knew what was and wasn't the truth anymore! Kuso! That...that bitch!" cursed Iruka angrily, tears of frustration leaking out of his eyes despite his attempts at stopping them.

_'Iruka...you really care about Naruto don't you...' _thought Hiruzen sadly, pushing his hokage hat downwards to cover his eyes whilst blowing a few puffs of smoke to calm his nerves.

"I see...thank you for your efforts Iruka, the important thing is that you did your best!" said Hiruzen sympathetically.

"H-hai! Hokage-sama!" responded a subdued Iruka.

"Itachi, Kakashi, Kurenai, Asuma, what about the four of you? Did you do what I asked you to?" questioned Hiruzen.

He'd asked the four jonins to organise joint training sessions for their genin teams in the hopes that Naruto could form bonds with his peers, but of course, the ever logical Itachi had disputed that idea, pointing out that it would be a bad idea with the chuunin exams so close, that it would be an unfruitful waste of time as no one would want to risk revealing their secrets to someone they might be forced to fight against in the exams. Hiruzen had reluctantly, but logically, agreed with the boy's sentiments, but then had ordered that they at least organise some social activities for the teams, as it was important that Naruto formed bonds with his peers before the exams begun, a sentiment that all four jonins had shared with him.

"Sir, it was a complete failure! Naruto, at first didn't even pitch for the activities that we organised and when confronted, stated that Yugito was teaching him new techniques and helpig him with his training for the exams..." explained Kakashi, causing Jiraiya's eyes to widen in horror. Hiruzen on the other hand remained calm, having already known about this. He'd seen their first two training sessions through his crystal ball, but that was no longer possible as Yugito had convinced the boy to do what no one had managed to do before, which was to convince the boy to buy a new shinobi outfit. This unfortunately meant that Hiruzen could not easily keep track of Naruto's movements anymore, because he hadn't and wouldn't get the chance to place seal tags on Naruto's new clothing, not with Yugito sticking to him like a leech at least. Also, Hiruzen feared that she might have already found out about the tags, which is, if she did, then Naruto might now know that he was keeping tabs on him, and even if she didn't know, she might find out if he tried to put new ones on Naruto, and that would only serve to give her more ammunition against the village, as she would no doubt use that information to manipulate Naruto.

"She's teaching him to control the Kyubi?" asked Jiraiya frantically.

"I am not sure, Naruto has been tight lipped about the specifics of the training." replied Kakashi simply.

"I see..." was all Jiraiya said, a thoughtful expression etched on his facial features.

"In any case, I threatened to pull him and his team out of the chuunin exams if he missed even one more activity. He came for the activity after that, but I eventually found out that he was sending shadow clones to gatherings. Once again, I had to threaten him to participate, and he did, but it was a futile attempt because he brought Yugito with him. I...none of us expected that he would go that far, but he did and the whole thing was spoiled! We couldn't just send her away because that would have hindered our plans, Naruto would have been angry and not co-operative if we had done that, so we had to let her stay. But letting her stay was a bad idea, she told everyone about Naruto's lineage and she even told them that she was his girlfriend, everything just became chaotic after that. Also, it seems that Yugito was able to see through our plan and warned him about it, because Naruto didn't communicate with anyone and brushed away any of his peers attempts to talk to him, even refusing to answer questions. He doesn't even seek Sasuke and Sakura's attention anymore, in fact, he completely ignores them. Hokage-sama, Yugito is no ordinary woman, she is able to turn anyone and any situation into whatever that she pleases it to be, she's at a completely different level! I'm starting to even doubt that we are dealing with a human anymore, we are dealing with something far more cunning then any human I have ever encountered, we might just be dealing with a true devil!" said Kakashi dramatically, a sense of hopelessness taking over his whole mind and body.

"Kakashi, aren't you being a little over dramatcic? I mean...a devil?" asked Inoichi incredulously.

"I don't think he means it literally Inoichi-san, but I do share his sentiments on the issue, we can't beat Yugito by playing her own game, she'll just slap us around and then take what she wants in the end! Whichever direction we choose to take, we should make sure we avoid a direct confrontation with her, otherwise she'll just make us look like fools again." said Itachi, causing Hiruzen's eyes to widen in realisation, so shocked was he that he even dropped his pipe on the desk accidentally.

"What is the matter Hokage-sama?" asked Ibiki curiously.

"Itachi...you just gave me a brilliant idea! Hehehe! Nii Yugito will never see this coming!" exclaimed Hiruzen maniacly, slamming the side of his fist against his desk , causing his subordinates to wonder if the old man had finally gone senile, perhaps the situation with Naruto was taking its toll on him.

"What is it sensei? Do you have a plan?" asked Jiraiya curiously.

"Hai...I have the perfect plan to not only ruin Yugito's plan, but to help us defeat the Akatsuki with minimal damages!" said Hiruzen ecstactically.

"You do...please share this plan with us Hokage-sama?" pleaded Nara Shikaku, not liking to be left out of the loop of anything that had the words 'strategic genius' written all over it.

"Its pretty simple really, listen carefully, this is what we're going to do!" said Hiruzen authoratively, making sure that he had everyone's attention, losing the ridiculous behaviour that he was exhibiiting only a few moments ago.

"I'm going to secretly send a Konoha squad to Kumogakure for alliance treaty negotiations...!"

"Are you out of your mind old man...!"

"Shut up and listen Jiraiya! I'm not finished!" exclaimed Hiruzen authoratively, blastic the toad sennin with a heavy dose of killing intent.

"B-but sensei...!"

"Just listen, would you at least give me some credit, I'm not finished talking!" said Hiruzen forcefully.

"Okay, but this better be good! Cause it sounds like a joke so far!" protested Jiraiya. Hiruzen simply shook his head at his student's brashness, couldn't Jiraiya at least excercise some patience, how old was he anyway, geez!

"As I was saying, we offer Kumo a marriage alliance between Yugito and Naruto-kun. If Kumo were to agree, and they were to be wed, we have it that Yugito, as Naruto's wife, has to live in Konoha but that their first born son would be raised in Kumo. And we promise that the Nibi would be returned to Kumo should Yugito die or should the time come for a new jinchuuriki to be made. This way, we can get to not only keep Naruto-kun, but gain a second jinchuuriki for a few decades. This would render everything Yugito has done so far to be irrelevant, also, organising this marriage alliance would be our way to show Naruto-kun our sincerest apologies, we could convince him that we did this because we knew how much he and Yugito love each other, we'll tell him that we just wanted him to be happy." explained Hiruzen.

"That would be a good idea, except, why would the Raikage accept such a deal when he stands so much to lose. Giving him Nii Yugito and Naruto-kun's child is understandable, Kumo have been trying to get their hands on an Uzumaki for years, but it is useless at the same time, if Yugito manages to take Naruto to Kumo, they would still get married and bare that son anyway. Not to mention, this way, he wouldn't have to lose a jinchuuriki because of an alliance treaty, and he wouldn't have to wait so long to get an Uzumaki into his village. I'm sorry Hokage-sama, but this plan has close to zero percent chance of success. Said Shikaku matter of factly.

"I know that Shikaku-san, in fact, I'm counting on the raikage's rejection." said Hiruzen calmly, confusing everyone in the office, except for one other person.

"I see, I think I understand, you expect the raikage to reject your offer, but that doesn't matter because you're planning to use that as an excuse to invite him over for the final round of the chuunin exams in order to discuss the alternate terms for the alliance treaty. Obviously, if the Akatsuki attack, you'll inform him of the Akatsuki's intentions against Yugito and Killer Bee, and he'll have no choice but to ally himself with us in order to protect his military weapons. At the end of it all, the Raikage might become dissuaded from adding a third jinchuuriki to his forces, as that would increase the probabilty, or rather, the scale and frequency of an Akatsuki attack on his village. It is a good plan I must admit Hokage-sama, I couldn't have thought of it myself." praised Itachi without showing any emotion.

_'Except you did think about it yourself, otherwise how could you have known exactly what I was planning without reading my mind? Itachi...you're a very dangerous man...' _thought Hiruzen wearily.

"Thank you for your vote of confidence Itachi-kun, so...what do the rest of you think?" asked Hiruzen.

"Sounds like a plan, a troublesome plan but it is our best shot at the moment." replied Shikaku lazily.

"Hai, it is worth the risk, I don't see the Raikage or the Kazekage siding with the Akatsuki considering what they're after, if there is an attack, they will have no choice but to fight together and with us, in the end, this could serve to solidify a three way alliance in the future, shinobi who fight together do tend to form strong bonds after all. I think it is a plan worth persuing." said Tenzo charismatically.

"Jiraiya...any objections?" asked Hiruzen rhetorically.

"None, it is a good plan." replied Jiraiya simply.

_'It is a good plan, but can it lead to peace in the future? How long would an alliance between three major nations last, I don't know...guess I'll just have to wait and see'_ thought Jiraiya.

**BANG!**

"Sayuki! What is the meaning of this! And how did you get passed the secretary? I explicitly ordered that no one interfere with this meeting!" exclaimed a perplexed Hiruzen.

"Ahh...gomenasai Hokage-sama, demo...I have an important message from the gate guard, Hyuga Gyuki, and the barrier detection squad! It is something that absolutely cannot wait!" exclaimed Sayuki hyterically. She is a tall and voluptous woman in her early twenties with brown eyes and dark brown hair tied in a ponytail and two short bangs covering her heart shaped face, wearing tight black shorts, black sandals, and a green flak-jacket with numerous scroll pouches.

"Urgent enough to disobey orders?" asked Hiruzen wearily.

"Hai! Absolutely...Hokage-sama!" replied Sayuki shamelessly.

"Hmmmm...fair enough, let us here what you have to say..." ordered Hiruzen.

"H-hai! Sir, the Otogakure contingent arrived at the gates aproximately thirty minutes ago, as expected, Gyuki screened them with his byakugan! The thing is sir, even though their story checked out and their documents were legitimate, he couldn't help but notice some concerning irregularities, irregularities that were so concerning, that he felt he had to contact the barrier detection squad for confirmation of his findings." explained Sayuki, pausing slightly in order to for her audience to digest the information.

"The Hyuga are a proud clan who have unwavering confidence in their all-seeing eyes, what could possibly have shaken up on of their own enough for them to seek a second opinion?" wondered Itachi out loud, a concerned frown etched on his facial features.

"Well, it can't be helped Itachi-san, it is not everyday that one encounters not even one, but two shinobi who exhibit bijuu level chakra reserves." stated Sayuki with a grave undertone, surprising and at the same time confusing everyone in the Hokage's office.

"B-bijuu level! That's ridiculous, who'd believe a fairy tail like that!" retorted Kakashi, shaking his head in disapointment, honestly, what was happening with the jonin of nowadays, had Konoha's standards dropped that much since the third shinobi war.

"Hokage-sama, I assure you this is no joke, in fact, all of the Oto shinobi exhibited unnaturally high chakra reserves, I'm only mentioning these two in particular because...well...I don't think I need to explain the reason for that." stated Sayuki irritably, feeling more then insulted by Hatake Kakashi's accusations.

_'Cycloptic bastard! Who the hell does he think he is!' _thought Sayuki furiously.

"She does not seem to be lying, at least, I was unable to discern any deception with my sharingan." said Itachi, looking at the Hokage expectantly.

"Hmmm...could you give us a little more detail about these two individuals, and tell us a little more about what happened?" asked Hiruzen rhetorically, everyone in the office recognising it as the order that it was rather then the request it was disguised as.

"Sir, of the two individuals, one was brown haired girl with a sizeable forehead of the age 16, and the other a twelve year old, blonde haired boy with shark like teeth. Sir, Gyuki saw their chakra coils at point blank range with his byakugan, but didn't want to report in himself without a second opinion, probably, because he expected to be ridiculed y some ignorant jonin..." trailed off Sayuki, glancing at Kakashi momentarily before continuing with her explanation, the copy nin scratching the back of his head sheepishly.

"He immediately contacted our barrier unit to confirm if the barrier had detected what he had seen with his eyes, and upon cross examination, it was confirmed that what he had seen was also detected by the barrier. Following this, he then requested that someone be sent to his post to collect the copies that he made of their documentation so that we could deliver proper identification of not only these two individuals, but the whole Oto contingent. This is because, Gyuki has identified all of them as major threats." explained Sayuki.

"I'm assuming that the folder in your hand contains this documentation?" asked Hiruzen.

"Hai Hokage-sama!" responded Sayuki.

"Then, why haven't you handed them over, shouldn't that have been the first thing that you did upon your arrival?" asked Jiraiya curiously.

"Hai...demo...I didn't think that would have been a good idea in this situation...you see, the news that I just shared with you were the better of the two, there's something even more troublesome that Hokage-sama absolutely must be informed of before I hand over these documents..." trailed off Sayuki gravely.

"More troublesome...what could possibly be more troublesome then what you just told us?" exclaimed a perplexed Inoichi.

"I can't believe I'm saying this, but could it be, that these two, or rather, these four Jonin are Akatsuki members in disguise? If we go by the assumption that Otogakure is an Akatsuki branch, and Oto has people of this calibre in their ranks, then does that not prove that Otogakure is a part of the Akatsuki?" asked Itachi, directing his question at the Hokage directly.

"Hmmm...you've presented a good analogy, that possibility is something that we absolutely can't afford to ignore...!"

"I'm apologise for my rudeness old man, but am I the only one that finds it hard to believe that a twelve year old boy could have bijuu level chakra, heck it's hard enough to believe that a grown man or woman would be capable of something like that, now I'm expected to believe that a 16 year old girl and a 12 year old brat have that much power? Seriously, has this office turned into a nuthouse? I'll tell you what, you hand over Sayuki-chan to me for interogation and I'll have her talking in one hour max!" said Anko with a sadistic smirk, eyes sarkling in anticiation.

"I'm sorry Anko, but I will do no such thing, you'll have to wait until we can verify if her information checks out, if it doesn't, only then will I consider your offer." replied Hiruzen.

"Tche! You suck!" exclaimed Anko with a pout.

_'Tche...sadistic snake bitch!' _thought Sayuki spitefully.

"Nevertheless, Sayuki, you said there was something even more important that you wanted to tell us about, please continue..." ordered Hiruzen.

"Sir, if I may ask, what is this Akatsuki that Itachi-san spoke of?" asked Sayuki, unable to contain her curiosity.

"The Akatsuki are an organisation consisting of aproximately ten kage level shinobi, dedicated to the hunting and capture of all nine bijuu! We do not know exactly what their ultimate goal is, but we know that they need, or otherwise plan to use the nine bijuu to achieve their goal. Right now, we only know that Uchiha Shishui, and Orochimaru have strong ties to this organisation, and we also believe that this Otogakure no Sato is an Akatsuki branch, that is because Orochimaru is the founder and leader of this village, which is also why we believe they are a branch of this organisation." explained Hiruzen.

"You mean to tell me that there is a hidden village that has ten kage level shinobi? And they want to capture all the tailed beasts!" exclaimed Sayuki hysterically, unable to bring herself to something like that.

"Hai, unfortunately, all the information we have seems to point towards that direction." said a subdued Hiruzen.

"I-I see...wait...wait a minute that's impossible, if Akatsuki want the bijuu for themselves, then Oto cannot possibly be an Akatsuki branch!" exclaimed Sayuki in realisation.

"What do you mean? Is there something that you know about that we don't?" asked Jiraiya hastily.

"H-hai! Earlier, I told you that there was something troublesome that I needed to tell you about, you remember right?"

"Hai, demo, what has that got to do with the Akatsuki?" asked a curious Jiraiya.

"Well, one of the two individuals I told you about, the blonde haired boy, he is a jinchuuriki, Gyuki said that his chakra network resembled that of a jinchuuriki, and the boy admitted to it when confronted about it! So then, if Akatsuki wanted the bijuu for themselves, wouldn't they have already extracted it from the boy?" explained Sayuki hastily.

"How is it possible for this boy to be a jinchuuriki, all the nine bijuu have been accounted for have they not?" questioned a confused Itachi.

"Actually, the nanabi jinchuuriki of Taki, a girl known only as Fu went missing from Taki eight months ago. You all probably didn't know about this because Taki did not add her to their missing nin bingo book, in fact, they have tried their best to keep this information sealed while the secretly search for her without alerting the other villages, probably, because they don't want anyone to know that they have lost their greatest military weapon in order to avoid an invasion, or prevent other nations from capturing her for themselves." explained Jiraiya.

"I see, but if that is the case, what Sayuki told us about this blonde boy does not mean that Oto isn't a part of the Akatsuki, the opposite actually, it only confirms that Oto is indeed an Akatsuki branch!" explained Shikaku with a deep frown.

"W-what? I don't understand?" asked a confused Sayuki.

"Shikaku-san is right, is it really a coincidence that the Nanabi jinchuuriki disappears without a trace only for an Oto jonin with bijuu chakra reserves to appear as a jinchuuriki eight months later? Claerly, this kid is an Akatsuki member, Akatsuki must have captured Fu, extracted her bijuu, and sealed it into one of their loyal members, which in this case, happens to be this blonde haired kid. Oto is no doubt an Akatsuki branch! Isn't that right, Shikaku-san?" asked Itachi monotously.

"Hai...that's right." replied Shikaku.

"You're all jumping to conclusions! I haven't even told you the whole story about this boy, for one, did you know that this boy looks like an Uzumaki Naruto clone!" exclaimed Sayuki, shock and confusion, for the millionth time spreading across the office.

"Uzumaki clone...?" asked Itachi with wide eyes, losing composure for the first time since her arrived at the Hokage's office.

"Exactly, this is what I meant when I said there was something even more troublesome that I had to tell you! The boy has spiky blonde hair, occean blue eyes, and three whisker like markings on each cheek! But that's not even half of it, he calls himself Uzumaki Namikaze Arashi, Uzumaki Naruto's older twin brother, and on top of that, he even alluded to he and Naruto being Yondaime-sama's twin sons. And don't think that's the end of it, because it's not! The boy said that his father, Yondaime-sama used a sealing jutsu know as the **dead demon seal **to split the Kyubi into two halves and sealed one half into Uzumaki Naruto and the other half the other twin! Namely, they are both the Kyubi Jinchuuriki! Here's the documentation that you wanted, see for yourself...haaah...haaaah...haaaah!" exclaimed an out of breathe Sayuki, breathing raggedly at the end of her rant as she threw the documents onto the Hokage's desk, who didn't waste anytime opening up and reading through the documents, and neither did his audience, all of them rushing over to the Hokage's desk to read over his shoulders.

"So you see, this guy doesn't have the nanabi inside of him, and is not neccessarily an Akatsuki member!" said Sayuki confidently.

**End Chapter**

**I know some of you are pissed off by either the slow build up, or the clifff hanger, or both, and I apologise sincerely for that.**

**Thing is, the story isn't as straight forward as some might want it to be, there is quite a lot of plotting, decpetion, suuspense, and mystery as well, which is why it has been such a slow progressing story.**

**Earlier in the story, those characteristics of the story were portrayed through battles, eg...Shishui vs Mikoto, Itachi and Hiashi, Naruto and team vs team Kiri, etc etc! But now, there aren't that manny battles, but of course there will be super battles coming up again, can't have chuunin exams without any awesome battles after all.**

**But yaw might have to wait two chapters minimum, or four maximum before you see battles again, between that, it will be build up to the exams/invasion arc.**

**A lot of Yugito in this arc, in fact, this is like her arc in a way, but don't expect her to suddenly become the main protagonist, that's obviously Naruto...the Oto Naruto that is, not the clone, lol.**

**Anyhow, Konoha think they can manipulate Suna and the Kazekage? Haah, I laugh at that?**

**But will they be able to manipulate the raikage into helping them? Or does he have something up his sleeve? Guess yaw'll just have to wait and see! **

**Oh, does anyone wonder how the Raikage and his two jinchuuriki will affect Oto's plans? **

**In anycase, the next chapter should be up in a week or two, until then, keep it real! **

**And thanks for the read, I'll be fixing up grammar and other mistakes in the next two days for this chapter, I apologise if there are too many, or if they are too glaring.**

**As for reviews, I will answer all of them as soon as I can, peace!**


	14. Chapter 14

**Disclaimer: **I do not own Naruto or any other series that I might use for inspiration.

**Chapter 14**

_**Chuunin Exams: Part Three**_

_**Meeting** **Between** **Siblings**_

_'N-no way! T-this just can't be happening...she...she...she!'_" thought a devastated Kurenai.

"Nai-chan, are you alright?" asked Anko, placing her left hand on the red eyed genjutsu mistress as a comforting gesture.

"A-aaaaaah!" cried a hysterical Kurenai, slapping her friend's hand away defensively.

"Ite! Nai-chan, I know what we saw is a bit hard to take, but really, I don't think it warrents this kind of a behaviour, it's not like you've just seen a ghost or anything, what's gotten over you?" asked a concerned Anko.

"S-she's alive! And she...she...she...!"

"Kure-chan, what's going on with you?" asked a worried Asuma, feeling rather uncomfortable with his girlfriend's behaviour, and not without reason either. He could honestly say that this was by far the most emotion he had ever seen from the ice princess of Konoha since they started dating about six months ago.

"H-Hokage-sama, is it...is it really her?"

"I'm afraid so Kurenai-chan, I'm afraid so..." trailed off a fearful Hiruzen sadly, successfully hiding his fear but however unable to mask his sadness.

"Sensei, what is she talking about?" asked Jiraiya curiously.

"Jiraiya-kun, I'm worried, I'm very worried! For as long as I have lived in Konoha, I have never once thought that there was any foe that our village couldn't concur, demo...I can't help but wonder..."

"What do you mean sensei? Are you worried just because Orochimaru played a little trick on you? Don't be ridiculous, Biwako-sama was Kushina's personal doctor during her pregnancy, she would have informed yout if Kushina was carrying twins. Also, I regularly visited Minato and his wife during the pregnancy, there's no way that I wouldn't have been told if she were carrying twins. Minato wouldn't keep such a secret from me. I was his father and he was my son in everything but blood!" exclaimed Jiraiya furiously, trying to knock some sense into the old man's head.

"Actually Jiraiya-sama, it is possible that they themselves didn't know about the twin, sometimes, an identical twin can go undetected until the day that the children are born. This is because of the mitotic effect that creates the twin in the first place, the cell splits into two exact copies of itself that grow seperately until two different fetus's are formed. Because they were originally one, and because they are exact copies of each other, the two will have the exact same chakra signature up until the first few years of their chakra coil development. So, because the babies are in such close proximity to each other inside the womb, and because they have the same chakra signature at those early stages of development, it is possible for a medic's **diagnostic jutsu **to completely miss the second fetus." explained Itachi.

"I see, but...you're not a medic, how would you know about something like that, Itachi?" asked Jiraiya, his mind unwilling to accept that explanation so easily, perhaps because it wasn't Tsunade that was explaining it to him, after all, she was known as the very best when it came to things like this, and as her teammate, he was used to getting this kind of advice from the very best.

"I did the research when Okaa-sama was pregnant with Sasuke, I wanted to make sure I could help her if anything bad ever happened during the pregnancy, at least, to help her survive long enough for professional help to arrive." explained the ever emotionless Itachi.

"I-I see..." Jiraiya replied simply.

"I understand what you mean Itachi, and it all makes perfect sense, but...wouldn't a Hyuga medic, or even just a normal Hyuga have been able to see that there was more then one baby inside the womb?" asked Inoichi curiously.

"Kushina's pregnancy was kept as an S class secret that only a few knew about, we didn't want to involve too many people in the whole ordeal for obvious reasons. Therefore, a Hyuga wouldn't have had the chance to evaluate Kushina, and even if one by chance had seen that she was carrying two children, they most likely would have assumed that we were already aware of that fact and not said anything about it. In hindight, it was very foolish of me not to ask Hiashi to dispense one of his kinsman to assist Biwako." explained a depressed Hiruzen.

"Okay okay, I get it, I accept that there is a chance that this so called twin is legitimate..."

"There is no chance, just fact, Jiraiya-sama. We have been given confirmation by our barrier detection squad and a trusted Hyuga jonin, everything checks out." cut in Ibiki.

"Alright, so he is Minato's son, so he is jonin? So what, how is that enough to make sensei think we don't have a chance of winning, and why is it enough to instill so much fear into the Genjutsu mistress of Konoha? Surely we have faced worse odds then a twelve year old boy with little experience?" asked a confused Jiraiya.

"I don't think that's neccessary what has troubled Kurenai and Hokage-sama to this extent, Jiraiya-sama." said Itachi.

"What, you know something don't you, Itachi? What is it?" asked Kakashi eagerly.

"I guess you could say I do, Kurama Yakumo...that is the name of one of the kunoichi you saw in those documents. A jonin level jinchuuriki who possesses bijuu level chakra reserves is dangerous, and so is a jonin kunoichi with bijuu level chakra reserves, but...Kurama Yakumo is possibly the most dangerous person in that group...no, actually, right now, she could be the most dangerous person in the elemental nations." explained Itachi monotously.

"N-no way, you can't be serious, that little girl?" asked a perplexed Asuma.

"Yes, that little girl." replied Itachi.

"I don't understand Itachi, just how do you know this girl?" asked Jiraiya curiously, the prospect that his spy network might have missed something apparently so important not sitting well with him.

"Actually, she is from a minor clan that joined Konoha just over a decade ago, a clan that was said to have genjutsu powers rivaling those of the Uchiha clan. The Kurama clan's induction into the village was for the most part kept a secret as the clan's numbers had been depleted by war over the years. Yakumo was the heiress of the main house and was apprenticed to Kurenai-san on Hokage-sama's orders after her parents beseeched the village's help to help control her powers. However..." trailed off Itachi with a grave undertone.

"What happened Itachi?" asked Kakashi curiously.

"Kurenai discovered that the Kurama clan had a secret, once every few generations, a genius surpassing all other Kurama clan geniuses is born with godly illutionary powers, and fate had it that Kurama Yakumo be that genius, but...these powers come with a price of their own, after all, very few things in this world can be obtained and used without a price."

"A price...?" asked Jiraiya.

"Yes, you see, Kurama Yakumo's powers are so great that her genjutsu can twist and alter reality itself..."

"Nonsense! You really expect us to believe such a thing can be possible! That kind of power, we are talking about something devine here!" exclaimed Inoichi incredulously.

"Exactly, except, her power isn't devine at all, the opposite actually, her powers are demonic. The power to alter reality, or to manifest a genjutsu into the real world, the price for failing to control that power has demonic consequences." explained Itachi.

"Demonic consequences...what does that mean exactly?" asked a disbelieving but curious Inoichi.

"Kurama Yakumo was unable to control that power, and because of that, that power manifested a form and an identify of its own inside of her by using the darkness within her heart as a lifeforce. This demonic entity had its own dreams and ambitions, its own mind, and its own identity, it was an entity that idenified itself simply as...Ido."

"Ido...?" asked Asuma curiously.

"Yes, Ido...! This entity was powerful, and could use the Kurama clan's genjutsu at a level that not even Yakumo herself could, it was also powerful enough to take over her and use her body as its own for long periods of time. You see, Kurama Yakumo had a physical disease that disabled and hindered her in her quest to become a ninja, and because of this Kurenai-san cancelled her student/teacher relationship with the girl, but...she had come to see Kurenai-san as more then just a teacher, but as an older sister too. That is why, when she was de-registered from the shinobi ranks, she was extremely hurt, angry, hateful, and vulnerable. Ido took over the girl during that time and killed her parents and a majority of the Kurama clan, leaving her all alone in the world. It was at this point that the village started to see her as a threat, and at this time that Hokage-sama asked Kurenai-san to seal away her powers, it was either she do that, or kill the girl. Of course, she chose the former, she couldn't bring herself to kill a little girl, especially one she had come to see as a little sister." explained Itachi, pausing momentarily to regain his breathe.

"Following the incident, the remnants of the branch house left the village and were scattered around the elemental nations, choosing to live the remainder of their lives as civilians and leaving Yakumo on her own in the Kurama mansion. At the same time, Yakumo was placed under constant supervision by the A.N.B.U and a few specilaized medics, destined to never leave the Kurama mansion again and never to be able to live a normal life again, destined...to live a life of complete isolation and loneliness. Everyone forgot about her, and no-one ever visited her again. But...two years later, at the age of only six, she managed to assassinate all of her medical observers, and a whole A.N.B.U squad before making her escape from the village. Uchiha Shishui and I were ordered to conduct the investigation because of it's genjutsu implications, however, the victims had been dead for over two weeks before their bodies were discovered, a genjutsu analysis was henceforth inconclusive. We do however believe that she had at least one accomplice...someone helped her escape, and since she is now an Oto jonin, we can assume that it was Orochimaru who was behind her escape." explained Itachi.

"But I don't understand...if this girl's life was so horrible in Konoha, what possible reason could she have to return?" asked Asuma.

"Revenge...! Think about it, she's now been able to become a jonin, and a jonin sensei no less, namely, this can only mean one thing, she has completely subjugated Ido, in other words, she has full control of her powers. I believe she has returned for revenge because she left paintings behind in her sleeping quarters, most of those paintings were gruesome images of a mutilated Kurenai and Hokage-sama, and some of them contained images of a completely destroyed Konoha, the only reason she would have returned, is to turn those images into reality!" said Itachi dramatically, striking fear into the hearts of his comrades.

"N-no way...!" exclaimed a wide eyed Inoichi.

"I'm afraid that is how it is." said Itachi gravely.

"Itachi, what about you, not counting Uchiha Shihui, you are probably the best genjutsu user in the elemental nations, surely there is something that you can do?" asked Jiraiya pleadingly. He would have rather handled something like this on his own, he did not like nor was he used to asking others for help, especially someone so much younger than he was, but the fact of the matter was that genjutsu was not his forte, in fact, he was quite a dud when it came to that ninja art.

It's not that he didn't believe that he could defeat this Kurama Yakumo brat either, actually, he was reasonably confident that he could, just that, if he made even one mistake and got himself caught in her genjutsu, then it would be all over, whereas, if someone like Itachi made the same mistake and got caught in her genjutsu, it wouldn't neccessarily spell defeat, there would still be a significantly higher chance of not just survival, but maybe even victory.

"Hmmm...perhaps, she'll probably never expect someone to try and combat her in her own expertise, also, she's probably over-confident and ove-reliant on her genjutsu prowess, if I can catch her off guard and end it quickly...then it might be possible." replied Itachi.

_'I hope Tsukiyomi will be enough, I'd hate to be forced to use Izanagi or Izanami.' _thought Itachi. Chakra requirement aside, **tsukiyomi** wasn't much of a problem for him, he could use it as many times as he wanted because he no longer had to worry about getting blind, his mother's eyes had made sure of that. The only problem was **izanagi **and** izanami. **Itachi wasn't sure what would happen to his eyes if he used one of the two Uchiha kinjutsu, sure he now had the **eternal **manyeko sharingan, but what did that mean exactly? Did it mean that he would never lose his eyesight again no matter what happened, or did it only apply to mangyeko sharingan techniques?

He supposed it shouldn't apply to any other techniques besides the mangyeko sharingan abilities, obviously, his eyes couldn't possibly have a perfect form of immortality. If someone stabbed him in one of his eyes, would that eye regenerate and regain it's sight because it was now an **eternal **mangyeko sharingan? Nonsense, that couldn't be possible, therefore, it probably wasn't possible that he would be able to keep his eyesight if he used either of those two Uchiha Kinjutsu. He would have liked to test the theory though, in hindsight, he probably should have tested the theory before he implanted his mother's eyes, after all, he did have a large arsenal of sharingan that came into his possession after the massacre.

His eyes are a momento from his mother, therefore, it shouldn't be a surprise that he would be hesitant to risk losing them to some kinjutsu. That would mean losing the only connection he had to his mother, that would mean, that his mother would no longer be able to watch the world through his eyes anymore.

_'But, what would mother say if I allowed Konoha to be destroyed because of her eyes? Would she be proud of me then? Would she approve of my actions? I wonder...' _contemplated Itachi.

"Then it's settled, Itachi, your main target during the invasion will be Kurama Yakumo, we're counting on you!" ordered Hiruzen.

"Hai Hokage-sama, I'll do my best." bowed Itachi respectfully.

"Yuhi Kurenai, you too, you will be partnered with Itachi for this mission. You know Yakumo better than anyone else in the village, furthermore, the two of you used to have a siblling bond. I want you to use that to your advantage, she won't be able to maintain her concentration at all times if she gets emotional, use your bond with her to give Itachi an opening." ordered Hiruzen authoratively.

"Demo...!"

"Kurenai! I know how you feel, but look at the bigger picture, are you willing to risk Kiba, Shino, and especially Hinata for the sake of one person? Is Yakumo more important to you then all three of your students? Is she more important then Konoha itself?" asked Hiruzen.

"I-I...but...!" sputtered Kurenai hysterically.

"Kurenai, can I count on you? Can Itachi count you? Can your students count on you? Can Anko or Asuma count on you? Or are all of us less important to you? Are you not willing to put aside your own feelings for the village's sake?" asked Hiruzen cruely.

_'Sensei, aren't you expecting a little too much from her?' _thought Jiraiya.

"Now wait a minute tou-san...!"

"Asuma! Stay out of this! Listen, I know that I'm asking a lot from you Kurenai, but, I would never ask you to do something that I woudn't do myself, believe it or not, you and I are on the same boat here." explained Hiruzen sadly.

"W-what do you mean Hokage-sama?" asked Kurenai with wide eyes.

"I'm also going to have to prepair myself to kill a once precious student of mine for the sake of Konoha, this whole month, I'll be prepairing for a battle to the death with Orochimaru, so don't think that I don't know how you feel, because I do. Demo...even if I have to forsake myself, even if I have to crush my own heart, I'm willing to do this for the sake of my loved ones, for the sake of the village, and in order to uphold the will of fire! We have to protect the village and leave a legacy for future generations, Kurenai, don't think of yourself as a bad person for doing what you have to do, many will see you as a hero, I...will see you as the hero that you are, to me, you will always be a precious comrade who unselfishly carried the fate of her village on her shoulders without falter, you will always be my hero!" said Hiruzen with conviction.

"H-Hokage-sama, is that what you truly believe?" asked Kurenai, eyes wide in surprise.

"Hai, from the bottom of my heart." replied Hiruzen seriously.

_'Is that what you told Shishui when you ordered him to eliminate the Uchiha clan...Hiruzen?' _thought Itachi.

"Then...I'll do it...sniff...I'll do it! I'll protect my loved ones and the village...sniff...n-no matter what the cost!" exclaimed Kurenai rigidly, bowing to the hokage respectfully, although, whether she was bowing as respectful gesture or to hide her tears was another issue altogether.

_'Kurenai, you're about to walk a very difficult path, however, I will do my best to protect your delicate heart if it is within my ability, I won't allow anything to happen to you...' _thought Itachi with determination, unwilling to allow someone who reminded him so much of the two most important women who were once a part of his life have to go through something so traumatic.

_'Kurenai...there's so much I still don't know about you, why have you never told me about this Kurama Yakumo...why won't you let me in? All I want is to take care of you.' _thought a confused and frustrated Asuma.

_'She's found her resolve...good!' _thought Hiruzen with a little relief.

_'Still, even if we defeat this Kurama Yakumo, what then? She has students, and she has other comrades as well, will they not want revenge for their comrade's death? Yakumo will attack the village for revenge against the Leaf, we'll kill her, and then her loved ones will come back to do the same thing, and the cycle of war and hatred will continue. Even if Yakumo were to win, Kurenai's genin team, Asuma, and Anko would want revenge too, basically, this is just a mindless and endless war torn existence. Is there really ever going to be a time where we can all come to understand one another, can there ever be true peace?' _thought a subdued Jiraiya.

"Good! I believe in you, Kurenai." said Hiruzen with a smile meant to comfort and encourage the genjutsu mistress.

"H-hai! Thank you, Hokage-sama!" replied the red eyed beauty.

"So, what about the others, more specifically, what about Namikaze Arashi? What do you plan to do about him?" asked Kakashi curiously.

"For now, we will simply watch the proceedings, we'll decide what to do based on what we see." said Hiruzen, pulling out a transparent crystal ball from a drawer on his left hand side.

"So you're going to use that huh, alright, that sounds like a plan to me." said Jiraiya eagerly.

"Come, all of you, we're going to need to put together all our minds in order to get to the bottom of this." said Hiruzen, subtly ordering his subordinates to all gather around him to observe the mystery that was tormenting them and would be for the immediate future to come.

**000000000000000**

"Aaaaaw I'm so bored! This is so unfair, why are we all stuck in this stupid hotel room when Arashi-sensei and Yakumo-sensei get to go on a date!" whined Amaru petulantly, using Naruto's alias even in the privacy of their hotel room, just in case someone was eves dropping on their conversation, also, because she wanted to get used to that name. It would be quite disastrous if she accidentally used his real name in the presence of the enemy before the invasion.

"Sigh...they're not out on a date, they just went to get something to eat for all of us, can't you just stop complaining for just one minute?" asked an exasperated Guren.

"Guren-sensei, you're so naive..."

"Excuse me?" asked Guren maliciously, breaking the redhead mid-sentence.

"Um...aaah...nothing, n-nothing at all Guren-sama!" exclaimed Amaru nervously, flailing her arms in front of her as a placating and somewhat submissive gesture.

"I thought so..." said Guren with a threatening undertone.

"Sigh...but why do they have to get ramen though, aren't we always eating that nowadays?" complained Suzumebachi.

"Well, apparently it's the food of the gods, more like food of the pigs if you asked me." mocked Guren.

"Nee-chan, you shouldn't talk like that about nii-san's favorite food, he'd be so hurt if he heard you say something like that behind his back." admonished a worried Yukimaru.

"Yeh...but unlike you, I can do things for him to um...earn his forgiveness, things that you can't do for him." replied Guren mischieviously.

"Oh yeah! Like what?" challenged Yukimaru.

"Really...you need me to answer that?" asked Guren with a raised eyebrow, causing Yukimaru's eyes to widen in realisation and horror.

"Oh...! N-nevermind!" exclaimed a horrified Yukimaru, causing everyone to laugh at his expense.

"Guren-chan, you shouldn't say things like that to him, he's your little brother, little brothers shouldn't have to hear things like that about their sweet older sisters." said Suzumebachi, chasticing her comrade and friend lightly.

"Hn, me and Arashi-kun are his legal parents, and everyone knows that their parents get it on from time to time, otherwise how would they have been born." said Guren as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"Tche...I give up, you're hopeless!" replied the Kamizuru heiress.

"And I give up on you too, hypocrite!" replied Guren indignantly.

"Hypocrite, why am I a hypocrite again?" asked an amused Suzumebachi.

"Oh I don't know, maybe it's because someone that I know has a tendency to share explicit details of her intimate experiences with Arashi-kun with her own surrogate little sister? Yeah...you think I don't know about that?" asked Guren mockingly, refering to the Kamizuru heiress's relationship with the nanabi jinchuuriki, Fu.

"Hehehe! Hahaha! You foolish woman, don't you know...it's okay to share those things with your little sister, but not with your little brother, tche, you're so clueless!" retorted Suzumebachi, laughing at her fellow jonin's expense.

"B-bitch...!" cursed an embarrassed Guren.

_"Guren-sensei, Suzumebachi-sensei, don't overeact, but...we're being watched...!" _said a voice inside the two jonins' minds, a voice they recognised to belong to one of their genin compatriots, Ranmaru, who was using the **eye of the scavenger technique **to communicate telepathically with his superiors.

_"We're being what! Whose watching us, Konoha scum?" _demanded the Kamizuru heiress.

_"Hai, the Hokage, Uchiha Itachi, Jiraiya of the Sannin, the copy ninja, Hatake Kakashi, the genjutsu mistress of Konoha, Yuhi Kurenai, the Hokage's son, Sarutobi Asuma, head of Konoha's interogation unit, Morino Ibiki, the Jonin Commander, Nara Shikaku, a member of the Ino-Shika-Cho, Yamanaka Inoichi, the A.N.B.U commander, Tenzo, and last but not least, Orochimaru-sama's former apprentice, Mitarashi Anko...these are the people that are watching us." _reported Ranmaru evenly.

_"How is it that they're all watching us, Ran-chan? I can't sense any one of them around the block, are they using some kind of special chakra cloaking jutsu?" _asked Suzumebachi curiously.

_"No, they are still inside the Hokage's office roughly four miles south from here, the Hokage is using a crystal ball that projects images to watch us. Also, I didn't notice it until he activated his jutsu, but there is a surveilance sealing tag on the ceiling of your hotel room, actually, on the ceiling of every hotel room. That is most likely the secret of his jutsu." _explained Ranmaru.

_"I see, so than, they're watching specifically this room, and no other room?" _asked Guren.

_"Hai, why do you ask?" _asked Ranmaru.

_"I just wanted to be sure that it is specifically the Oto contingent that they're monitoring, and not just every foreign shinobi in general, also, since you're in the room next door to ours, and they're only watching ours, then it means they haven't seen your doujutsu as of yet, namely, they haven't realized that you're spying on them." _explained Guren.

_"While I agree that it is good that they haven't seen your doujutsu, I still don't believe it would be a big deal even if they did. They're going to see it anyway during the chuunin exams so it makes no real difference. Also, even if they were to see it now, there is no way that they would know that you're watching them. This is because, they have no idea what abilities your doujutsu possesses, they don't know that you can see through solid objects and they certainly don't know that you can see things from distances longer than the four or five miles that the Hokage's office is situated from our location. Continue to observe them and do not worry about them discovering your __**fuingan**__." _ordered Suzumebachi.

_"Hai, Suzumebachi-sensei!" _acknowledged Ranmaru respectfully, taking his superior's advice to heart.

_"Okay, fair enough, I agree with her, but let us now focus on the real issue at hand, why are they spying on us specifically?" _asked Guren wearily.

_"Yeah, Ran-chan, you should have been able to read their lips with your eyes, what did they say?" _asked the Kamizuru heiress.

_"A lot of troubling things, one, they know that Orochimaru-sama is the leader of our village, and they know about his connections with the Akatsuki. That is because, Jiraiya has been tracking and monitoring Orochimaru-sama since he defected from Konoha. Luckily, Jiraiya knows nothing beyond that..." _

_"Aaaaaargh! That stupid frog... I'm so gonna kill him!" _exclaimed the sadistic Suzumebachi furiously.

_"Toad...he's not a frog, he's a toad." _corrected Guren.

_"Whatever! Same thing!" _retorted the honey bee irritably.

_"No it's isn't..."_

_"I said whatever!" _exclaimed Suzumebachi in frustration.

_"Tche...alright, I was only trying to help you know, but it's fine, you can hold on to your ignorance if that's what you really want." _said Guren with mocking nonchalance.

_"Why you..."_

_"Ahem! As I was saying..." _cut in Ranmaru, breaking off the would be cat fight between his superiors skillfully. He wouldn't dare to outright tell them how childish they were acting at the moment, not with their volatile and sadistic personalities, nope, no thanks, he didn't even want to imagine the horrors that they would put him through if they sniffed even a hint of disrespect coming from him, heck Guren didn't even tolerate that from Kabuto, and he is the freakin jonin commander.

_"Please continue Ranmaru-kun." _said Guren, giving her fellow kunoichi a victorious smirk, one that pissed Suzumebachi off to no end. Fortunately, she was able to reign in her temper in light of the severity of their situation, not willing to do anything that might, in the short or long run, jeapardize hers and her comrades' lives.

_"Hai, they are under the belief that Akatsuki will attack Konoha during the final round of the chuunin exams, this belief stems from the fact that there are five jinchuuriki in the village, that is, if we can count Arashi-sensei's clone as a jinchuuriki." _

_"Well Konoha is under the belief that the clone is actually a twin containing Kurami-sama's other half, as far as they're concerned, there are now five jinchuuriki in Konoha instead of the four that we know there are. Nevertheless, if Konoha believe that Akatsuki will attack Konoha, then why are they spying on us? Shouldn't they be out there looking for possible hidden Akatsuki bases in Fire Country?" _asked Guren, wondering about the intellect of the so called god of shinobi.

_"Konoha have won all three of the shinobi world wars and they have successfully warded off any invasion attempts in the past. Probably, they are confident that they will once again prevail no matter who challenges them because of their history, in other words, they are content to let the enemy attack because they feel that the result is already written in stone, that they will prevail no matter what the enemy throws at them. Also, no one is simply going to allow themselves to be captured, no doubt they plan to use the situation with the jinchuuriki to their favor." _said Suzumebachi analytically.

_"That still doesn't explain why they are spying on us though, what does Akatsuki have to do with us?" _asked Guren.

_"Everybody knows how much Orochimaru-sama detests Konoha, that is why they are spying on us, they believe that Orochimaru-sama would take advantage of the chaos that would ensure if Akatsuki attacked Konoha. That is why they are seeking to get some intel on us. Also, the Hyuga gate guard reported that our chakra capacities were unnaturally high and that our chakra was very strong, particularly Suzumebachi-sensei and Arashi-sensei's chakra. " _explained Ranmaru.

_"I see." _replied a thoughtful Suzumebach.

_"Okay, Konoha have a lot of things wrong, but that is all irrelevant. What is relevant though, is that they see us as a threat, and that they are prepared for war time. Also, we didn't expect there to be so many jinchuuriki in one place and because of that, Konoha will probably make preparations to neutralize the threat posed by that kind of fighter, this puts the effect of Sabaku no Gaara's role in the invasion in jeapardy, no...actually, the whole invasion has been put in jeapardy, we're going to have to start thinking of ways to modify and improve our strategies for the invasion." _said Guren with a grave undertone.

_"That's not even half of it, the Hokage has ordered Yuhi Kurenai and Uchiha Itachi to target Yakumo-sensei if Oto becomes a threat to Konoha's safety, also, there is something else that you absolutely must know, especially you...Guren-sensei, this information involves your main target for the invasion..." _trailed off Ranmaru, leaving the two kunoichi hanging on every one of his words in anticipation.

_"My target? You mean the A.N.B.U commander, you said that his name was Tenzo right?" _asked Guren curiously.

_"Yes, that's what the god of shinobi said when he was refering to him." _replied Ranmaru.

_"If I'm not mistaken, even Kabuto-sama was unable to find out anything about this man, not even his name. That, to me, just screams 'S-Rank Secret' in my ears. I'm curious to know what you could have found out about him in this secret meeting, Ran-chan." _said a curious Suzumebachi, subtly ordering the young prodigy to disclose the information that they didn't desperately need, well, at least, she didn't think they desperately needed, but would like to have nonetheless. She believed that Guren would be able to take care of business regardless of whether she had intel or not, she was after all, the most powerful kunoichi she knew of, not counting herself of course.

_'Still, it would make things a whole lot easer if she knew exactly what she is dealing with. If she could end it quickly, then she would have enough energy and strength left to help out in other areas of the war, her involvement would significantly reduce the death toll on our side.' _thought the Kamizuru heiress.

_"You're probably not going to believe this but...Tenzo has the first Hokage's powers, in other words, he is a mokuton ninjutsu user. He told the Hokage that he has sent four of his mokuton clones to keep an eye on the four jinchuuriki that were already in the village before we arrived. He wasn't lying either, I could tell." _said Ranmaru matter of factly, shocking the two powerhouse kunoichi considerably. It took every single fibre of their beings just to hold in any sort of reaction, a testiment to their will power and the top class training that they have received.

_"W-what? Bastard! Shouldn't this have been the first thing that you told us?" _exclaimed an infuriated Guren.

_"I don't think so, I doubt you would have listened to anything else I had to say if I had done that. You wouldn't have been able to stop thinking about it, even I can't stop thinking about it, it sounds so unreal even to me, the guy who confirmed the information with his own eyes." _said Ranmaru, hoping that his explanation would be enough to justify his actions.

_"Okay, fair enough, but how is this possible, I thought that there was only one senju alive in the world? What is this guy, Tsunade's secret son?" _wondered Suzumebachi.

_"I don't know, but you kind of feel like Orochimaru-sama would have known about this if he was really Tsunade's son. Also, Orochimaru-sama once said that Tsunade left Konoha because she hated the village for taking away everything that was precious to her, why would she say that if she still had a son living in Konoha, or any kind of relative for that matter?" _asked Guren.

_"Isn't she related to Naruto-sensei? Why did she leave him all alone in this pathetic hell hole if she was really such a good person who wouldn't desert her kinsman?" _asked Ranmaru. The question was posed with his usual calm and even tone, but to Guren and Suzumebachi, who knew him very well, the hate and malice in his voice was unmistakeable.

_"Okay, point taken, but we still shouldn't jump to conclusions, it could be anything, for all we know, Konoha have been experimenting with the Shodaime Hokage's dna just like we have been. We'll have to inform Orochimaru-sama about this and hear what he has to say." _suggested Guren

_"Yeah, but I think it's obvious what you're going to have to do now." _said Suzumebachi.

_"Yeah, I heard you were unable to successfully harvest Hashirama's cells, and the day that we have to transfer ownership of his body draws near. Maybe we can replace his body with Tenzo's and continue with experimentation." _suggested Ranmaru.

_"Yes, initially, Yukimaru-kun's dna was at an incredible eighty percent compatable with the Senju dna. We wanted to give him both Tobirama and Hashirama's cells to make him the ultimate shinobi. Hashirama's dna is powerful and dominating, sometimes, actually, all the time, his dna will completely take over the subject and said person will die a painful death. The longest time someone has survived before being taken over has been only three days. That is why we decided that we would implant Tobirama's dna first, we wanted to see how Yukimaru's body reacted to dna transplants in general and we also were planning to intergrate Tobirama and Hashirama's powers into one body. If we had implanted Hashirama's dna first, then it would have simply rejected any future transplants because of it's dominating nature. So we implanted Tobirama's first, and we planned to follow that up with a complex implanting method that would allow Hashirama's dna to intergrate with Tobirama's using the common gene that aligns the two shinobi to the water element as a focus point. But, something completely unexpected happened..." _trailed off Suzumebachi.

_"What happened?" _asked Ranmaru, his curiosity peaked by his friend's dna implant experiences. He'd never had the guts to ask him about it and it seems that Yukimaru had never felt the need to talk about it, but he'd always been curious.

_"We expected compatability to rise from eighty percent to ninety percent after implanting Tobirama's dna, but the opposite actually happened. The compatability actually decreased from eighty percent to 65 percent. Prior to the project, Guren and Naruto-kun, as Yukimaru's legal guardians, had agreed to only allow us to proceed as long as compatability was 75 percent and above, and so when it decreased and went below that standard, they absolutely refused to allow the experiment to proceed as scheduled until the science devision found a way to increase Yukimaru's chances of survival. We have tried everything to meet those standards, but we have only been met with continuous failure, even as we speak, Tomatoe-chan is probably at the main laboratory working her ass off to fix this problem. However, hehe, it seems as if even Kami-sama is on our side..." _replied Suzumebachi with elation.

_"What do you mean?" _asked Ranmaru curiously.

_"Yeah, what are you getting religious about?" _asked an equally curious Guren.

_"Well, Tomatoe-chan has always been under the belief that this whole thing would not have been an issue if we could have obtained a living sample of Hashirama's cells, and frankly, both I and Kabuto-sama have shared that sentiment. And now, just when we thought we would lose the chance to harvest Hashirama's powers altogether, we are presented with this opportunity, can you blame me for thinking that this is more than coincidence?" _asked Suzumebachi rhetorically.

_"Are you trying to tell me that you can increase Yukimaru-kun's chances if I capture this Tenzo guy?" _asked Guren.

_"Yeah, think you have what it takes to do it?" _challenged Suzumebachi.

_"Tche...do you even have to ask?" _asked Guren with a mental smirk.

_"Na, not really, but be careful, don't underestimate your enemy, Hashirama's powers are no joke from what I've heard." _warned the Kamizuru heiress.

_"Heh, you almost sound concerned about my wellbeing, Suzu-chan." _mocked Guren.

_"I'm more concerned about getting our hands on that dna material." _replied Suzumebachi with an equally mocking tone.

_"Yet you didn't deny that you're worried, just admit it, you care about me." _

_"Whatever, that's not the moral of the story, let us focus on what matters for now." _replied Suzumebachi, skillfully diverting the conversation back to her comfort zone.

_"Oh well I guess you're right, but just so you know, I care about you too." _replied Guren with a knowing smirk, the Kamizuru heiress doing her best to hold back the blush of embarrassment that was threatening to form on her facial features.

_"Anyway, this solves the Gaara situation I suppose. If Konoha do end up developing a method to neutralize a jinchuuriki, you can reasonably assume that Jiraiya, as a seal master, and Tenzo, as a mokuton user would have been at the centre of whatever plan they concorted. But, the two of you have been assigned the mission to take care of those two, leaving Gaara free to create as much havoc as he can. Now that leaves Itachi and Kurenai, what are we going to do about them, they're planning to use Yakumo-sensei's emotional connection with Kurenai to create an opening?" _asked Ranmaru with concern.

_"Maybe I should help her, I can use my eyes to combat Itachi's sharingan." _suggested Ranmaru.

_"No, you're an important element in Raiga's kinjutsu, what are you going to do, desert him?" _asked Suzumebachi.

_"No, but I can go and help after we take care of Might Guy, I'm sure she can hold them off long enough for me to come to her aid." _retorted Ranmaru.

_"No that won't be neccessary, Kurenai will be dead by the time Itachi arrives to her aid, that is, if he arrives to her aid. Remember, Uchiha Itachi is Kazekage-dono's target, and the Kazekage seems confident that he can take care of the Uchiha. Even if Itachi by some chance won the battle, Kurenai would be long dead by the time he defeats the Kazekage, and he would have used up most if not all of his energy, Yakumo-chan would rip him to pieces. Do not worry about her of all people, she will be unharmed." _replied Suzumebachi confidently.

_"I guess you have a point."_

_"I know I do, now, is there anything else?" _asked the honey bee.

_"Not much really, just a few miner details that Orochimaru-sama needs to hear about, oh wait, did I tell you that Arashi-sensei's clone is dating the nibi jinchuuriki, Nii Yugito?" _

_"What/What the hell!" _exclaimed the two elite kunoichi in complete shock and horror.

**000000000000**

"Okay what are looking for exactly here old man, there doesn't seem to be anything special happening, just a bunch of kids playing around?" asked a bored out of her mind Mitarashi Anko. Absolutely nothing was happening in the images portrayed by the Hokage's crystal ball, just a bunch of genin chilling and chatting lightly in the comfort of their hotel room and two Jonin kunoichi who looked like they were simply meditating.

"She's right sensei, also, the person we really wanted to see is not even there." pointed out an equally bored Jiraiya.

"These are all just kids, should we really be feeling threatened by these children?" asked Inoichi skeptically.

"We should not take the threat that they pose to us lightly, Shishui was only 16 when he disposed of the majority of the Uchiha clan. Also, if the barrier detection squad and a Hyuga elite were able to identify these kids as major threats, then how much more dangerous are the older and more experienced ninja of their village? How much more dangerous is Orochimaru himself?" was Shikaku's response.

"Yeah, I guess you have a point, but still, it is hard to believe that brown haired girl supposedly has bijuu level chakra reserves, how is that even possible?" wondered Inoichi.

"I know what you mean Inoichi, the only other person I have met before with that kind of chakra was Hashirama sensei, I never thought someone else like that would ever exist again, much less a supposedly sixteen year old little girl." thought Hiruzen out loud.

"Actually Hokage-sama, it is rumoured that Kiri had one such person once upon a time, a former member of the Seven Ninja Swordsman, Hoshigaki Kisame." said Kakashi.

"Hoshigaki Kisame...? I think I've heard about him, isn't he wanted for the assassination of his own comrades, his master, and a number of feudal lords?" asked Kurenai.

"Yes, that seems to fit the description perfectly." replied Kakashi.

"There are many mysteries and anomalies in the shinobi world, truth is, there are things that exist out there that we will most likely never fully comprehend, all we can do is to take things one step at a time and deal with the things that come our way." advised Itachi.

_'This is the most I have heard him talk since the day he declared his intentions to take a genin team in that jonin meeting six months ago. He's something else, he doesn't act or sound like a teenager at all, talking to him, it's almost like talking to a veteran like Hokage-sama. He's very wise for someone so young, what a guy.' _thought Kurenai, genuinely impressed by the Uchiha prodigy's intellect and skill. She'd heard all the hype going around in the village, everyone who had worked with him before had nothing but admiration and praise for him, even Anko, and she of all people did not give away complements that easily, Kurenai knew at least that much about her best friend. To be honest, she'd wanted to work with the young Uchiha for quite some time now, she'd heard that, despite the seemingly unmatched talent he had for ninjutsu, that he was actually not only a better genjutsu user, but that he actually had a strong passion for the delicate art and considered it to be his favorite. She could just imagine all the different kinds of conversation that she could have with him as a fellow genjutsu practitioner, all the things she could impart to him, and learn from him vice versa, just thinking about it almost made her want to break down into a fit of giggles, and who could blame her for her giddiness, the life of a genjutsu practitioner was a very lonely one, there was literally no one else in Konoha that shared her passion up until now.

"Hmmm...I don't know if any of you have noticed, but, these kids seem like a closely knit group. They all seem to get along with each other very well, namely, there seem to be very strong bonds between the lot of them. This is something I was worried about, I was hoping that this wasn't the case, if these Oto kids have this much of a strong bond with Arashi-kun, than, it might be imposssible to get Arashi-kun to come back and take his rightful place as a Konoha shinobi. This is bad..." explained Hiruzen with a grave undertone.

"Not neccessarily, the situation could in actual fact prove to be to our benefit." retorted Jiraiya.

"To our benefit, I'm not sure I follow you, Jiraiya-sama?" asked a confused Inoichi.

"Much as I hate to admit it, Orochimaru is not the kindest person in the world, actually, he has, over the years, become a very cruel, violent, and sadistic individual who is by far the most ruthless ninja village leader. I'm pretty sure that very few of those kids are happy to work for Orochimaru, probably, they only do his bidding because they fear his wrath. If we can convince Arashi that we can get rid of Orochimaru and offer he and his friends a safe and lovely home to stay in, then I'm sure they would take that opportunity." suggested Jiraiya.

"A very good idea Jiraiya-sama, except that you're forgetting one thing..." trailed off Shikaku.

"What?" asked a confused Jiraiya.

"You're forgetting that Arashi-san has a twin living in Konoha, a twin who, for all we know, is currently plotting his escape from the village to join Kumogakure no Sato, a twin who has a less then positive opinion about us. Even if we were to somehow convince Arashi-san to betray Orochimaru, he would change his mind as soon as he spoke to Naruto-kun, after all, who better then your twin brother to ask for an opinion about a place he has lived in all his life." pointed out Shikaku.

"You have a point, but let us not be quick to make assumptions, for all we know, the twins might not develop as strong a bond as twins usually have, they have been raised not only apart from each other, but under completely different conditions." retorted a hopeful Hiruzen.

"Okay okay okay hold up! Am I the only one that wants to know how the so-called twin ended up in Orochimaru-teme's hands in the first place?" exclaimed an exasperated Anko, wondering if she was perhaps the only one exhibiting any form of brain wave activity in the hokage's office.

"There was a lot of chaos during the Kyubi incident, as a result, I didn't even get to have a conversation with neither Minato or Kushina before they died, anything could have happened between the time of birth and the sealing of the Kyubi. For all we know, Orochimaru could have been involved in the incident." explained Hiruzen sadly.

_'I always knew that Kushina's seal could not have simply failed, but I never thought that you could have been behind all of this. Orochimaru, I should have killed you when I had the chance all those years ago.' _thought Hiruzen with regret.

"I see..." was Anko's only response, clenching her fists in anger and hatred.

_'Orochimaru, just how many people's lives do you plan to destroy with your demented ideology! I hope you really do plan to attack Konoha, this time, I'll finish you off myself, even if it kills me!' _thought Anko.

"So...what are we going to do now?" asked Kakashi.

"Kakashi, Asuma, Kurenai, Itachi, I believe you were organising a social activity between your students when I called you in, where are they now?" asked Hiruzen.

"We were at Ichiraku's when you called us in sir, why do you ask...sir?" asked Kakashi.

"I'm asking because I believe that is where we will find Arashi and Yakumo, after all, what is the first thing you do when you arrive at the home village of your long lost twin brother?" asked Hiruzen rhetorically.

"You look for him and introduce yourself." said Shikaku, a look of realisation plastered on his facial features.

"Exactly, that is why we are now going to take a look at the events taking place at Ichiraku's" said Hiruzen dramatically, the irony not lost to anyone in the office, after all, Ichiraku's was also the place where Naruto met Yugito, and now he would be meeting his long lost twin brother that he knew absolutely nothing about.

**0000000000**

_'Something's up with the dobe, does he not realise that what he is doing could be considered treason, or are they set to have a political marriage?' _pondered one Uchiha Sasuke.

He'd grown a lot since the massacre of his beloved clan five years ago, both in mind and physique, just above average in height compared to the other male figures of his graduation class, wearing a blue shirt with a turtle neck collar and an Uchiha clan emblem at the back, white, knee length shorts, and black shinobi sandals.

He was sitting on a stool near the right end of the Ichiraku Ramen Stand. On his right side, seated on the end seat was one of his teammates and rival, Uzumaki Namikaze Naruto with Nii Yugito sitting on his lap, the two flirting, kissing, and feeding each other in what Sasuke thought to be an uncivilized and rude public display of affection, the two seemingly lost in their own world. Naruto was wearing a different outfit, one far more pleasant to the eye compared to his former outfit, he was still wearing a jumpsuit, but this one had dark black pants with red, flame-like stripes running down the sides of his legs and the top was black and dark orange. Strapped to his back was a short tanto, to his thigh a brown weapons pouch, and he was wearing black ninja sandals.

Initially, Sasuke had been unable to believe that the dobe had not only found himself a girlfriend, but one who was considerably older and a jonin of an enemy village no less. Not only that, but the extent of her beauty was something that Sasuke thought he would never see again since the passing away of his beloved mother, that was partiallly why it only made sense that the dobe only got his hands on someone of her calibre because of a secretly arranged marriage alliance between Kumo and Konoha, there was no other way the dobe could have bagged her on his own merits, Yondaime Hokage's son or not.

Speaking of which, that was something else that Sasuke was having trouble accepting, the dobe was the Yondaime Hokage's son all this time? That was just so unreal, the Fourth was said to have been a genius amongst geniuses, a shinobi that was incredibly powerful and feared throughout the elemental nations, a shinobi whose achievements were respected enough to be considered by many as the greatest of all the Hokages, and a person of great intellect and skill. Considering all that, the dobe had nothing in common with this man, how could it be possible for someone like that to produce a dobe, not just any dobe, but a deadlast dobe?

_'His physical appearance perfectly matches the Fourth, maybe he only received the Fourth's physical traits and took everything else from his mother. Still, she would have had to be unbelieveably stupid to consumate with the Fourth only to produce someone as stupid as Naruto.' _thought Sasuke apethetically. He was however broken from his reverie by a firm but sensual hug from behind, soft and delicate hands rubbing up and down against his torso seductively.

"Oh my, you're making it so easy for me to read you lately Sasuke-kun..." purred Ino with the voice of a seductress, her breathe blowing against a stone faced Sasuke's ear erotically. She is a beautiful, pale blonde haired, and blue eyed 12 year old girl with hair styled in a long ponytail with one chin length bang covering the left side of her face, wearing black spandex shorts, a purple skirt and a purple sleeveless top that exposes her lower belly.

"Hn, I have no idea what you're talking about, get off me, crazy woman." demanded Sasuke.

"Hehehe! Oh...I've seen you staring at Naruto and especially his girlfriend all day, and it finally clicked to me. You're staring at Yugito-san because...you're attracted to bubbly, voluptous, long legged, smart, but most importantly... blonde haired women, aren't you Sasuke-kun? That's why you're so jealous of Naruto-kun isn't it?" whispered Ino with a knowing smirk.

"Hn." Sasuke rolled his eyes at Ino's seduction attempt, honestly, how in the pits of hell did she come up with that ridiculous theory, there was a reason there were no blondes in the Uchiha clan.

"It's okay Sasuke-kun, give my body a few more years to develop and I'll be even better than her, you won't have to wait too long, I promise..." trailed off Ino suggestively, causing Sasuke's eyes to widen considerably, the beginnings of a short and long term plan formulating in his mind rapidly, in fact, if not for Ino's tight embrace, Sasuke wasn't sure if he would have been able to resist the urge to smack the palm of his hand against his forehead, why hadn't he thought of something like this sooner?

It was no secret, at least, not to team 7, that Naruto disliked, or even outright hated Kakashi and Sasuke's older brother, Itachi. The whiskered blonde and the cycloptic jonin had been at each other's throats for two weeks now and Naruto, uncultured as straight forward as he was, had made his feelings about their porn edicted sensei and his partner in crime loud and clear. But that wasn't anything important, at least, not to Uchiha Sasuke, up until that point, he'd treated the situation just like everything else that didn't and probably wouldn't contribute to Uchiha Shishui's death, close to maximum apathy and minimum curiosity.

But then...Naruto had revealed something that nearly obliterated his apathy during one of their latest arguments, according to the blonde, Uchiha Itachi, Sasuke's own brother, with the help of their own sensei, Hatake Kakashi, had attempted to wipe out and replace sections of Naruto's memories, not only that, but it appeared that Uchiha Itachi was capable of pulling off something like that with just his sharingan.

Now that had done more than peak Sasuke's curiosity, he never knew that the sharingan could do that, and he never knew that his brother was the kind of person that would do that just to keep a secret, a secret that Sasuke felt wasn't anyone's to keep for that matter, as he felt that if Naruto really was the Fourth's child, than he at least deserved to know that, in fact, everyone deserved to know who their parents were, everyone deserved an identity as far as he was concerned.

Sasuke, paranoid as he was, had become weary of his brother and started to see him in a new light. They hadn't gotten along in a long time now, but Sasuke had never thought that his brother would ever give him reason not to trust him, but now, he did not trust his older brother at all. He'd started to think back to all the events of his life, trying to find clues to confirm whether his brother had shown any signs that he was as cruel as he appeared to be, and Sasuke had to admit that he was shocked by what he had come to realise. Itachi had never shown even a hint of emotional or psychological damage before or after their clan's demise, and especially after their mother had been murdered. He never harboured any signs of hate or vengefulness against Uchiha Shishui, and he never even showed any signs of regret or remorse when Sasuke confronted him about his actions against Naruto, neither did he seem to think he had done anything wrong.

However, all these things didn't bother Sasuke half as much as what Sasuke had remembered about what he'd been told after the massacre. When he'd came to, he hadn't remembered everything that happened in detail, he'd only known that his clan had been slaughtered, his mother was alive, and that his brother was alive, but none of the finer details of what happened. The doctors told him and his family that his condition was normal, that the lost memories were the mind's own way of dealing with the trauma, that the memories would one day return when he was ready to deal with them. But the memories never returned, to this day, Sasuke did not remember anything beyond Shishui torturing his mother and taunting him about it before passing out. There were some gaps, things that were missing that Sasuke thought he should have been able to recall, but to this day, he couldn't recall any of them.

It was at this point that Sasuke came-up with a theory, if Itachi could make people forget things with his sharingan alone, than, was it possible that Itachi had used this ability on him as well? Now that he thought about it, Itachi could have done that literally any time that he wanted to, the guy had enough chakra and control to keep his sharingan activated almost at all times of the day and they made eye contact all the time, who knows how many times the guy had caught him in his genjutsu before he activated his own sharingan during that border patrol mission.

_'That's it! Ino is the heiress of the Yamanaka-clan, if anyone can confirm my suspisions and help me remember, it should be her.' _thought Sasuke with a little optimism mixed with a lot of trepidition, trepidition because there were problems with that plan that he couldn't ignore. Ino was not a person that was known to be able to keep secrets, in fact, she was quite the queen of gossip. He didn't feel comfortable allowing anyone into his mind, much less someone with that kind of character. Also, she would probably set some kind of stupid condition in order to lend him her help, probably demand that he date her or even worse, sign a marriage contract or something stupid and fan girlish like that. Speaking of fangirl behaviour, what if she decided to look for more than she was supposed to look for inside of his mind, what if she tried to find out what he thought about her and found out just how little he cared about her, what if she searched his mind and found out that he was just using her for his own gain? What would she do then?

People may have thought that he was emotionally challenged, maybe he really was, but he was certainly no fool. He was quiet and he never interacted with others unless he absolutely had to, but that didn't mean that he didn't pay attention to his surroundings. He is a shinobi blessed with the powers of observation granted by the sharingan, and therefore perceived and understood a lot of things, and one thing he definitely understood, was just how far a woman scorned could go to attain her retribution. He didn't even want to imagine what one who had full access to his mind could do to him.

_'But I have no choice, she's the only one that can help me. Also, she is from a respectable and powerful clan, with the proper motivation, she could become a useful ally. I have to assume that Shishui has powerful allies too, I don't want to ever be caught unprepared again!' _thought Sasuke, the cogs in his head moving rapidly as he tried to come up with a viable plan of action.

_'The Yamanaka are also good at sensing chakra, her abilities could prove useful when I have to track Shishui down, it's not like I will just run into him by chance. Maybe...maybe I should accept her advances and become her boyfriend before I ask her to read my mind.' _thought Sasuke with conviction. He figured that he could eventually develop genuine feelings for her. She was quite pretty and would definitely develop into one of the finest women in Konoha. Also, she was someone that would do almost anything he asked her to because of her infatuation for him, and up until recently, Sasuke hadn't realised just how much of a good thing that was for him. If he told her that he wanted a strong woman that could challenge him and protect herself and their future children, he was reasonably sure that Ino would do everything in her power to become that woman. If he played his cards right, Ino would go on to master all of her clan's techniques and become one of the strongest kunoichi in Konoha, and she would be 100 percent loyal to him.

Her personality would obviously develop the right way with that simple change of focus, she would learn what it meant to be a true shinobi and would become someone he could trust with his secrets, if anything, he would also make subtle but significant efforts to mold her into that person, a few subtle gestures and suggestions should do the trick.

_'It will take a quite a while before we get to that point, but what do I have to lose? If I can get her there, I might develop genuine feelings for her and she could help me with my second objective if that happened.' _thought Sasuke with a little excitement, his vision becoming clearer and clearer within his mind. Now that he thought about it, it was quite a brilliant idea, using Ino, with her genes and her clan's secret ninjutsu to rebuild the Uchiha clan would do his objective no harm what so ever. Also, with the way he would shape her character and the time they would inevidably spend together, she would only find positive thoughts about her if she decided to look for more than he asked her to inside his mind, and he therefore wouldn't have to fear for his life when she mind raped...eh...mind walked him.

"Sasuke-kun! Sasuke-kun! Are you alright? What's wrong my love?" asked Ino with concern, breaking the rooky of the year out of his thoughts.

"Oh Ino, it's just you, sorry, I was just thinking about something that happened in the past. Was there something that you said...or wanted to say?" asked Sasuke. He may have decided that he would date her, but he had no intention of asking her out himself. He figured that he wouldn't have to probe too hard anyway to get her to ask him out instead, she did that almost all the time.

"Well...I was wondering, since I will be preparing dinner today, if you would like to come and have dinner with me and my family tonight? I just thought that you might want to have a family meal every once in a while instead of just you and Itachi, plus, you get to meet your future parents in law." asked Ino bluntly but hopefully, fearful that her dear Sasuke-koi would reject her advances again, in fact, somewhat expecting it to happen really.

_'Blunt and straight to the point, she's not one to beat about the bush is she?' _thought a somewhat amused Uchiha Sasuke.

"Get away from him Ino pig! Sasuke-kun is mine!" screeched Haruno Sakura, a 12 year old girl with long pink hair and vivid green eyes, wearing knee length, tight black shorts with a long and red top. Viciously pulling on the blonde Yamanaka's pony tail in a bid to get her to let go of her crush.

"Aaaaaah! What the hell is wrong with you Forehead Girl?" exclaimed Ino indignantly, unable to help but to let go of Sasuke to try and wriggle herself away from Sakura's tight hold on her hair.

"I know what you're trying to do Ino-pig, and it's not going to work! As if Sasuke-kun would be interested in someone like you!" exclaimed Sakura furiously.

"You've had your chance Forehead girl, you've had six months as his teammate and nothing's happened yet, clearly he has no interest in you. Don't put me in the same boat as you, Sasuke-kun and I are going to have dinner tonight with my family, right Sasuke-kuuun?" cued Ino, finally untangling herself from her former best friend's assault on her hair.

"Hn, whatever, what time do I have to be there?" asked Sasuke apathetically, completely shocking everyone inside the ramen stand. As a result, Naruto completely haulted his flirting with his Yugito-chan, staring at the scene with eyes wide in surprise. Shino's bugs buzzed wildly, showing that the usually emotionless Aburame was just as shocked as everyone else. Choji choked on a mouthful of food, Kiba spat out his drink, Hinata's stopped twiddling her fingers, and Shikamaru's eyes widened in horror, wondering just how much more troublesome Ino would be now that she was so close to fulfilling her fantasy. Ino looked like a dear caught in headlights, just standig there with a completely stupified expression, not having expected the sudden turn of events at all. She'd be hoping, yes, but now that it actually happened, she was caught unawares and her mind had just frozen up completely. Sakura spotted a hurt and pained expression, tears spilling down her cheeks rapidly, her mind almost refusing to believe what her ears and eyes had just perceived.

"Yugito-chan, I thought you said that I was now immune to genjutsu?" asked Naruto, staring back at Yugito with accusatory eyes.

"Naruto-kun...you're not in genjutsu." replied Yugito with a raised eyebrow, wondering what the hell had gotten into her Naruto-kun all of a sudden.

"B-but...Sasuke-teme is gay, how come he accepted Ino's proposal for a date than?" asked Naruto innocently, causing Sasuke to twitch irritably, was that really what the dobe thought about him, was it what everyone thought about him? He didn't understand why everyone was acting like this just because he accepted a proposal to go on a date, if he had known it would attract this much attention, than he would have denied Ino now and asked her out later and privately.

"Nevermind that Naruto-kun, listen, I was thinking, that maybe it was time that we took our relationship to the next level, I have something special planned for you tonight." purred the Kumo seductress, placing a soft, sensual, and wet kiss on the blonde Uzumaki's lips.

"What say you, Naruto-kun?" whispered Yugito sensually, causing, once again, shock and surprise to filter throughout the ramen stand, this time, even Ayame and Teuchi unable to help but to react to the proceeding events, Teuchi dropping a pan he was washing and Ayame dropping a potful of ramen.

Sakura did the impossible and became even more depressed then she already was. In fact, come to think about it, she'd been depressed for quite a while now, it seemed like everyone was moving on and leaving her behind all of a sudden, not only that, but, out of the whole graduation class, everyone was from a great, respected, and noble lineage, even Naruto, whom she along with everyone else in their graduation, had thought to be a no-name deadlast, turned out to have a very strong shinobi lineage. All this and now, Naruto didn't seem to give a damn about her anymore, the one person who had placed her on a high pedestal was now the person that ignored her the most, even more than Sasuke did.

To say Sakura was jealous was an understatement, she was jealous of Yugito, she was jealous of Ino, and she was pissed off at Naruto for some reason she couldn't explain. Naruto was supposed to there for her when she was feeling sad, trying to cheer her up and begging her to go out on a date with him, and Sasuke-kun was supposed to accept her invitations to a date, not Ino's, why wasn't anyone playing their role anymore, why was everyone moving forward and leaving her behind.

_'It's not just me, Naruto doesn't care about anyone in team 7 anymore, he absolutely hates Kakashi-sensei and he and he acts as if me and Sasuke-kun are not even there!' _thought Sakura on the brink of tears. It was truly heartbreaking to her, how things had gone on such a downward spiral over the last two weeks. Team 7 hadn't just been a place of occupation for her, she come to think of them as a family of sorts. Kakashi was like a lazy, porn addicted, but wise and caring uncle, Naruto, her annoying little brother, and Sasuke-kun was...well, he was her Sasuke-kun.

_'Everything is gone, Naruto has moved on, and Sasuke-kun...sniff...Sasuke-kun...!' _cried Sakura, unable to hold back the tears anymore.

"N-no way! Naruto's going to lose his virginity before I do, and with such a hot babe? This can't be happening!" exclaimed Kiba, hands placed on his head as he gazed to the heavens in despair.

"D-don't be m-mean K-Kiba-kun, N-Naruto-kun deserves to be h-happy."stuttered Hinata, blushing furiously at what she was talking about, or rather, who she was talking about, not to mention the images that Yugito had caused to filter through her mindscape, secretly wishing she was as bold as Yugito, no scratch that, rather, wishing that she was the woman sittng in Yugito's place.

"H-Hinata..." trailed off Kiba, mentally smacking himself for being so insensitive.

_'Even now, all she can think about is Naruto's happiness, Hinata, you really love Naruto, don't you?' _thought Kiba, his hands curling into tight fists from the anger and frustration that was directed at Naruto, but maybe, even more so at himself, for failing Hinata as a friend and teammate, for failing to help Hinata gain her confidence in time. Now it was too late for her, Naruto was clearly in love with that Kumo chick, and as much as he hated to think that way, he didn't believe that Naruto would leave such a hot babe for Hinata, it wasn't possible as far as he was concerned, despite how shallow he knew that it sounded.

_'Naruto is going to have sex with that troublesome Kumo woman...? This is too troublesome, I can't figure anything out wihout any information, and neither father or Naruto is willing to talk, not even Asuma sensei. This so suspicious, and not to mention troublesome, how am I going to get to the bottom of this!' _thought Shikamaru. If there was one thing he hated, it was unsolved mysteries, well, actually, he did like the challenge that they presented, but only when he was able to eventually solve them, this situation however was too troublesome and he hated it, because there wasn't enough information to solve it and the people who had it didn't want to share it. There were just too many mysteries surrounding the blonde Uzumaki and none of them made any sense at all.

Perhaps, what both Naruto and Shikamaru didn't know, was how much of a genius strategy his pranking feats were, perhaps Shikamaru's first lead might have been the question of why the villagers would show so much hate for someone that was supposedly the great Yondaime's son, if Naruto hadn't spent so much time terrorizing and antagonizing the villagers that is. Right now, the natural assumption was that Naruto had earned that hate on his own merits, hence, denying Shikamaru the most important lead that would have helped him solve the blonde enigma's puzzle.

"Yugito-chan, you mean...?"

"Hai, I want you to make love to me tonight Naruto-kun, I can't wait any longer, I just want to show you how much I love you. Don't you want to show me how much you love me, don't you want to make love to me, Naruto-kuun" cut in Yugito as she shifted positions on the blonde's lap, 'accidentally' grinding her ass on the blonde's crotch, causing his manhood to expand rapidly.

"Y-yes! A-anything for you, Yugito-chan!" Replied Naruto in a trance like state, causing the blonde haired beauty to smirk happily.

Her plan was coming to fruitition, she'd spent a majority of the last two weeks at the blonde's apartment, claiming that she wanted to spend as much time with him before she returned to Kumo as her excuse for basically moving in with him for the last two weeks. Although that was part of the reason, there were two other major motives that she never told him about, wouldn't, tell him about. One was, it was also for his own protection, there was no telling what Konoha would do now that she had made her move, they'd already tried to abduct him and delete his memories, so she felt that her actions were justified. They wouldn't dare make a move while she was there with him, and if they did, she would make sure that their plans failed.

Another reason was that her stay at his apartment served as insurance, insurance that even if she failed to escape with him to Kumo, that Naruto-kun would definitely escape on his own later on and follow her back to kumo. The concept was simple, the impact of her departure would be far greater now that she was technically living with him than it would be if she had been staying with Killer Bee and his genin team. Right now she was the one cooking for Naruto, she was the one ironing his clothes, the one preparing his stuff for the next day, the first person he saw in the morning and the last person he saw before he went to bed. She was the one he was sparing with and she was the one he asked for training and advice. Right now, she was everything to him and had completely assimilated herself into his day to day life in just two weeks. Making love to him was the final nail in the coffin, she would be his first and she would make damn sure that she was his best and possibly, only. Her departure would leave a gaping hole in his life, he would have no choice but to follow her back to Kumo, especially considering that he probably thought that he would never find someone else that would accept and love him anywhere else in the world.

_'This is not possible, that idiot is going to lose his virginity before me? What a nightmare!' _thought Ino in despair. Deep down, she was willing to acknowledge that this was probably the best gossip material she had ever laid eyes on, but by the same token, it had possibly the worst implications that she could have thought possible.

"Ino..." trailed off Sasuke, a contemplative and serious expression on his face, although somewhat dimmed by the light blush he was spotting on each of his cheeks. He would never admit out loud like Kiba did, or share his feelings on the matter with anyone, but the thought of the dobe taking such a big step forward in life before he did really didn't sit well with him. It didn't matter that he had never really given thought to this kind of thing before, after all, sex was not going to kill Shishui, unless he had a very weak heart, something Sasuke was positive wasn't the case, but the fact that Naruto was going to do it just pushed him to the edge for some reason, maybe their rivalry wasn't so one sided after all, or maybe it still was, just that the roles were sort of reversed.

"Yes, Sasuke-kun, what is it?" cued Ino.

"I was wondering, since it is our first date, wouldn't you rather we go to my place at the Uchiha compound, you know, so that we can be...alone." suggested Sasuke, emphasizing the word alone to convey the hidden message in his request.

"B-but what about your brother, wouldn't he b-be there too?" asked Ino, eyes wide in disbelief and a little excitement, struggling to believe that Sasuke and her were thinking the same thing.

_'Is he really suggesting what I think he is?' _thought Ino, more then happy to believe that one of her greatest desires could possibly be fulfilled so much sooner than she thought.

"There are many houses in the compound, Itachi doesn't have to sleep in the same house that we have our date in, or anywhere near it." replied Sasuke simply.

_'Oh my god Sasuke-kun's wants me to take his virginity! And...and he wants to take mine, and he's being so romantic about it, inviting me to his house for a lovely dinner, just the two of us! That...that's so romantic! True love conquers all! Take that forehead girl!' _cheered Ino mentally.

"Oh, just the two of us huh...Sasuke-kun, I didn't know you could read minds too, have you been holding out on me?" purred Ino seductively, running her forefinger over the Uchiha's lips sensually.

"Hn, be there at 7pm, and don't be late." replied Sasuke, using up every inch of his willpower to keep hold of his cool and composed attitude.

_'He acts so cold, even though deep down, he's quite the romantic. I've been waiting for this moment for a long time, I'm sorry Sakura, but...I can't let you win, Sasuke-kun is mine!' _thought the blonde Yamanaka possessively, already picturing in her mind what it would be like to wake-up in the morning at Sasuke-kun's side.

"Alright...I'll be there...I promise..." whispered Ino, placing a chaste kiss on the Uchiha's lips, causing him to blush furiously, not having expected her to be so forward, especially in a public place.

Sakura couldn't take it anymore, seeing her future running away with her best friend was just too much to handle for her at that point in time. That was perhaps why she got up, slapped her best friend Ino across the face, and ran straight towards the door, but only to collide with a solid brick wall, falling flat on her butt as she recoiled from the impact.

Sakura was dizzy for a while, it took her a good few seconds to recover and regain composure, but when she did, she saw something completely unexpected. The object she had collided with was so hard that she thought that she had hit a brick wall, or even a steel wall, she certainly didn't expect the object to have been a human being, and not just any human being, but Uzumaki Naruto of all people.

"What the hell Naruto, I thought you were..." trailed off Sakura, eyes slightly widening in realisation, looking back towards the right side of the ramen stand only to see Naruto on the same stool that he had been sitting on, with Yugito still sitting on his lap, although, he had turned around to look back at all the comotion, the two making eye contact briefly.

_'A shadow clone...?' _thought Sakura, turning her attentions back to what she thought to be a shadow clone. Taking a closer look, Sakura, with her keen ability to pay attention to detail, was quickly able to realize that something was not quite right about the picture. This clone somehow seemed...bigger then the original, but that was soon to be the least of her worries, because not only was he bigger, but his whisker markings looked a little longer and deeper, not to mention his eyes, they looked a lot more animalistic than Naruto's did. He was also wearing a completely different outfit, wearing a red flak-jacket with a long sleeved, black top underneath that looked tighter than it was supposed to be, showing just how much muscle the blonde had underneath his clothing. He was wearing black ninja pants with white bandages around his ankles and black shinobi sandals. On his right thigh was a dark blue kunai pouch and on his forehead was a...

_'A forehead protector with musical notes?' _thought Sakura with a confused expression, wondering why Naruto's clone would be wearing something like that.

"So rude Arashi-kun, is that anyway to treat a lady? You didn't even apologise, did you?" admonished what sounded like a woman, seemingly appearing out of thin air. Sakura thought the girl didn't look a day older then her, but couldn't help but notice that she had the most beautiful skin she had seen before, spotting not even a hint of a blemish on her soft looking and creamy skin. The girl was of average height, with long brown hair and dark eyes, wearing also a red-flak jacket, a tight, short sleeved top underneath the flak-jacket and black shinobi pants that hug her feminine figure, white bandages around her ankles, and black shinobi sandals.

"Actually, she's the one that bumped into me, so techniqcally, she should apologize to me." retorted Arashi with a toothy grin, showing off the razor sharp shark teeth that occupied the inside of his mouth across his jawline.

"Stupid clone! I thought I told you guys to start working on water manipulation! What the hell are you doing here!" exclaimed Naruto indignantly, throwing a wind infused kunai at the other blonde with great force, the wind frequencies on the kunai causing said item to fly at blinding speeds towards the so called clone's heart. Yugito tried to stop her boyfriend, but it was too late, for he had already let go of the small bladed weapon, and she could do nothing but watch and see what would happen.

It came as a surprise to not to everyone in the stand, but more so to Yugito and Naruto when the supossed clone caught the kunai between his fingers with ease.

_'Heh...he absorbed the wind chakra without manifesting the scales, when did he learn how to do that?' _wondered Yakumo.

_'He overcame the wind resitence by infusing the kunai with wind chakra to increase the speed of his attack, quite impressive that my clone has mastered something that I have yet to even learn.' _thought Arashi, the irony of the situation not lost to him at all. He had a very strong affinity towards water, and a weaker one for wind, but had never gotten a chance to practise wind style. Perhaps partly because he didn't really see the need for it. He could create almost every wind effect and more with his sound manipulation, for example, a high frequency kunai like the one he just caught using sound vibrations. Also, he was still discovering and inventing new sound, water, barrier,and sealing techniques, was part of the science and research devision and had a genin team to mentor as well, he really didn't know where to fit in wind manipulation between all of that.

_'But then, I will get all of the blood clones experience and memories when I re-absorb it, including his wind style abilities.' _thought Naruto with a mental grin.

"S-sugoi! How did you do that, have you clones been holding out on me, did you discover something new while I was away?" asked an excited Naruto.

_'What's going on here? This is not Naruto-kun's clone! His chakra is similar but also different at the same time, plus, this guy smells like fish and even looks kinda different. But why does he look like Naruto-kun so much, I know he's not using a henge, so why?' _thought a confused and weary Yugito.

"Naruto-kun, I don't think that is one of your clones..." trailed off Yugito with a concerned expression, confusing the Ichiraku's and the rest of the Konoha twelve, Naruto included.

"A very good analysis, what gave me away?" asked Arashi with a shark-like smirk.

"There are obvious visual differences, like your outfit and your forehead protector, and less obvious but more important, the exaggerated physical traits on your face. And then of course, your ridiculous chakra reserves and the differences in your chakra signatures, there is also the matter of your scent, you kinda smell like the ocean, and a little fishy. Oh and did I forget to mention the slip up the girl next to you made earlier...I believe she refered to you as Arashi, and not Naruto as she should have. Quite a rooky mistake I have to admit for someone going under cover." explained Yugito, causing everyone, and that means everyone, even the Ichiraku's to put their guard up, now realising what a dangerous situation they were in.

"I see, so not only do you have a potent nose, but you're also a chakra sensor. That's quite impressive, Nii Yugito." commended Arashi, genuinely impressed by the first person he had met who could track both by sent and by chakra signature. He'd already suspected that she would be a scent tracker, the nibi was a cat after all, but he didn't expect her to be a chakra sensor too, that was something that he was not planning to forget anytime soon.

_'Bastard! He used the situation to find out about my abilities, h-he tricked me!' _thought a pissed of Yugito, a deep frown forming on her facial features for the first time since she arrived in Konoha.

"Just who the hell are you, and what do you want from me!" exclaimed Naruto, a pissed off expression etched on his facial features.

"I haven't seen you since you were born, is that anyway to greet your long lost twin brother who has been waiting for years to see you again, huh...otouto?" asked Arashi with a toothy smirk and a sinister glint in his eyes, shocking, once again, everyone inside the ramen stand.

**Chapter End**

**Yeah not much progress, but don't worry, the chuunin exams will commence in the next chapter.**

**I'm not going to apologise about the cliifhanger, I've done it so many times that it just seems foolish to keep apologising for something that we all know I'm going to do again, lol.**

**I know Uchiha haters are gonna complain about the Sasuke/Ino thing, but just remember to keep an open mind and wait till I reveal what I have in store for the plot. It is important to remember that I am also an Uchiha hater, but that doesn't mean I will ignore story development just because of something petty like that.**

**Anyway hope yaw enjoyed it, keep it real.**


	15. Chapter 15

**Disclaimer: **I do not own the Naruto series or any other series that I might use for inspiration.

**Chapter 15**

_**Chuunin Exam Arc**_

_**Secret Revealed, Like Mother Like Son**_

**Kumogakure no Sato...**

"Raikage-sama, a messenger lizard summon just arrived...it carries a scroll sent by Yugito." informed Mabui, a beautiful, dark skinned woman spotting long earings and light-grey hair held in a bun with two bangs framing her face, wearing a formal attire consisting of a long sleeveless dress shirt and skirt.

"From Yugito...?" asked the Yondaime Raikage, Ei, a large, dark skinned man with a hulking physique, spotting pushed back, blonde hair, a goatie, and the muscles of a body builder. He is wearing dark blue ninja pants with white bangages around the ankles, black ninja sandals, gold arm bracers, and a belt with a large, gold buckle around the waist with the face of a warthog engraved on it,the only item of cloathing on his uppper body being the Raikage's cloak that he was wearing.

"Yes, from her." confirmed the raikage's assistant with a bit of a worried undertone, showing concern for her fellow kunoichi.

Yugito was not one to initiate communication with the authorities during the course of a mission, in fact, she has never done it before, even in situations where her actions could have drastic consequences to Kumogakure's viable future, Yugito was always confident in her own reasoning skills and took decisions on her own, often, or rather, always to the benefit of Kumo and always willingly ratifiable by the raikage. For her to initiate communication during the process of her mission was very uncharacteristic behaviour and therefore Mabui felt that her concern was not misplaced, and logically, assumed that something must have gone horribly wrong with her mission.

_'But, if she was able to send a messenger lizard, we can assume that at least she is physically unharmed, the question now is whether Killer Bee and his genin team are unharmed as well, and the answer is in this scroll.' _thought Mabui, looking at the un-opened scroll that she was holding with scrutiny, almost as if trying to see through the sealed scroll and read the message that was inside.

"Where is the scroll now?" asked the raikage, still not turning around to face his assistant, gazing at the beautiful sight that was Kumogakure no Sato from the perch of his balcony.

Kumogakure was built on and around the largest and tallest mountain in the world, with the raikage tower located at the very tip of the mountain. The reason for this was simple enough, with the raikage tower at the very tip of the mountain, this meant that he, his body guards and his strategic team could view the whole ninja village at all times, as the village was below their position. Their altitude also allowed them to see the enemy long before they got within range of the village, henceforth, organising and orchestrating counter attack and civillian evacuation measures well in advance. This also made it easy for them to access the electricity generated by the storm clouds for not only the village's electrical usage, but as a power boost for their whole shinobi force, especially their storm release users. These were just a few of the reasons why Kumo had never even come close to being successfully invaded, it was a nearly impossible feat.

"Right here, would you like me to read it to you?" asked Mabui.

"It is adressed to me is it not? What if it contains a secret that I cannot share with anyone, wouldn't allowing you to read it be counter productive then?" asked Ei retorically.

"What if Yugito was captured and this is a trap by the enemy, what if the scroll contains a poisonous gas, or an explosive tag, wouldn't it constitute gross negligence on my part if I allowed Kumo to lose it's raikage because of something as silly as a scroll?" retorted Mabui.

"We both know that an explosive tag would do no harm to me, and as for the poisonous gas, I could have a lightning clone open the scroll..."

"Oh whatever! Look I just want to know what's in the scroll okay, so cut the crap out and let me read it already! I'm your damn confidant for Kami-sama's sake, reading things like this to you and helping you make decisions is what I'm so supposed to do!" exclaimed Mabui angrily.

"Hn, what a convenient excuse, you just want to get your hands on some gossip material..."

"I'm reading the scroll now, better listen up or you'll miss it all!" said Mabui loudly, completely ignoring the rest of the raikage's rant, like hell she was going to miss out on reading that stupid scroll, like hell she was!

"Fine, I'm listening!" replied Ei in exasperation, if he didn't trust her so much, and she wasn't such a good friend and assistant, her head would have been flying across the Kumo skies right now for such blatant insurbodination.

"Okay, here goes..." said Mabui, making sure Ei-sama was ready before reading out the letter to him.

_Ei-sama_

_Consider this a sort of progress report, what you're about to read contains some...interesting information, to say the least._

_Okay, where do I begin, we arrived in Konoha two weeks ago, and I made contact with the Kyubi Jinchuuriki three days after our arrival. I told him about his mother and father, and even gave him one of your older bingo books so that he can see how they looked and what they could do._

_Naturally, the first question he would ask himself is why he was never made aware of this, and that's where I took advantage of the situation. I was able to turn him against one of his most precious people in Konoha, namely, the Sandaime Hokage. I wove a conspiracy theory against him that involved practically the whole village, and thus, effectively turned him into one of Konoha's greatest detractors. _

_Naturally, he was heart broken, miserable, confused, alone, and most importantly, emotionally vulnerable. I used that opening to gain his trust and affections. I managed to establish a deep emotional bond with the boy and even managed to temporalilly move in with him._

_You might be wondering why I have gone through so much trouble and where this is going? Well, my reasoning is simple enough, instead of abducting and enslaving Naruto-kun, I wanted him to come to us of his own accord, with his own free will. The boy only trusts me, and only loves me, and I have told him all the great things about Kumo and how much the village would celebrate his arrival and service to the village. I have told him how jinchuuriki are seen as saviors and protecters here and how much they are respected. He is looking forward to joining the greatness that is our village, I assure you._

_The chuunin exams officially begin tommorrow. That is why, tonight, I was planning that we make love to each other. This would have completely sealed the deal, he would have been trapped in my spell for the rest of his entire existence...I would have rocked his world._

_But...something completely unexpected happened this afternoon...something so mind boggling, that I felt I had to consult with you before taking any further action. But, before I tell you about that, let me reveal a few issues of concern that I encountered before I decided to make contact with the target, perhaps this will make it much easier for you to take in what I am about to tell you._

_I made direct and physical contact with the target, something you explicitly told me not to do until I was ready to abduct him, but the thing is, the bijuu communication link did not work with my target. This, as you already know, clearly is not something that is supposed to happen. Both I and Nibi, however, could still sense the Kyubi's chakra inside the boy, but not it's actual presence. So I came up with a theory, that the Yondaime Hokage really did kill the Kyubi like Konoha had reported, but had somehow managed to seperate it from it's chakra, and sealed that chakra into his son. It was the only logical explanation. I also concluded that the Yondaime Hokage must have had something special planned for the boy, and that you would still want him regardless of whether the Kyubi was dead or not, but without a bijuu communication link, I would have to take a risk and make direct contact._

_Now, getting back to what happened today, another boy, looking exactly like Uzumaki Namikaze Naruto, bar from a few slight physical differences, arrived in the village today, calling himself Uzumaki Namikaze Arashi and claiming to be Naruto-kun's twin brother. This boy has the largest chakra reserves that I have ever sensed or heard of, and he is a jonin of the new village that has sprung up recently, Otogakure no sato. The boy apparently has his own genin team participating in these exams as well._

_I tried to spot if there was any deception involved, but there was no henge or any other type of illusion at all. Also, his chakra is similar to Naruto's, similar enough to be considered sibling material. What is most mind boggling however, is that the boy is also a jinchuuriki...a kyubi jinchuuriki!_

_Yes, it sounds sounds like something pulled right out of a fairytail, but it is true, the boy definitely has the kyubi inside of him. I almost didn't sense it, his own bijuu level chakra reserves and the tightness of his seal served as good concealing cloaks for the bijuu inside of him, but I have a neck for these kind of things. More importantly, Nibi verified that the this boy, unlike Naruto, does have a bijuu communication link._

_With that knowledge, I then used that link to privately confront him about a few issues of concern. He explained that the Yellow Flash seperated the Kyubi into two halves using a secret Uzumaki clan sealing ritual, the __**dead demon consuming seal**__. Apparently, the yang chakra was sealed into Naruto-kun and the yin was sealed inside of Arashi-san. According to Arashi, I was unable to establish a bijuu communication link with his twin brother because yang is only constituted by physical and natural energy whereas the yin is constituted by mental and spiritual energy. Basically, the Kyubi's mind and soul are attached to the yin chakra that is sealed within Arashi._

_This is the situation, you have fought Namikaze Minato and Uzumaki Kushina alongside your father and later, alongside Killer Bee. You have the most experience in Kumo when it comes to dealing with the Kyubi and the Yellow Flash. I want your opinion about this whole situation and I want to know what you think is really going on here. Also, I think I am going to need further instruction from you. What should I do, should I just continue with my mission to return to Kumo with Naruto-kun and ignore Arashi, should I abduct Arashi instead and ignore Naruto-kun, or should I take them both?_

_I eagerly await your response_

_Nii Yugito _

"What do you think, Ei-sama? This, do you think Konoha is behind this, is this some sort of elaborate deception by enemy?" asked Mabui.

Ei's eyes were as hard as stone, the story that was just read to him causing painful memories to re-surface in the raikage's mind, memories that he would have rather not been reminded of ever again. With a shake of the head and a deep breathe, the raikage cleared his head and recomposed himself before replying to his competent assistant and loyal friend/secret lover.

"No, I doubt that Konoha has anything to do with this, or any knowledge of what exactly is going on." replied the raikage.

"What do you mean, you sound like you know a little more than I or Yugito does about this situation?" asked Mabui, eyes narrowed curiously.

"Long ago, twenty years ago to be exact, I, my father, and a batalion of seven thousand Kumo shinobi embarked on a secret mission, a mission to capture the Kyubi jinchuuriki, Uzumaki Kushina..."

"I already know about that. Kushina allowed her demon to take over her and went on a rampage that destroyed everyone, the only survivors were you and your father. I do not see how this is connected to Uzumaki Naruto's twin brother, especially considering how that happened eight years before the twins were born." said Mabui, interupting the raikage mid-sentence.

"That mission, the seven thousand shinobi lost on that day were the reason that my father had to sacrifice himself later in the war, the reason our forces were outnumbered ten to one by Iwagakure forces..."

"I don't mean to be disrespectful Ei-sama, but once again, that is something I already know and I don't see the connection it could possibly have to Yugito's current situation." Mabui said, wondering if Ei-sama was feeling okay, and why he was getting so emotional all of sudden.

"I was getting there, if you would be a little more patient..." the raikage trailed off with a threatening undertone.

"Um...gomen, Ei-sama, I'm just worried about Yugito, I want to help her as soon as possible, I don't want anything bad to happen to her." replied Mabui apologetically.

"Hn, anyway, as I was saying, that incident with Kushina was the reason that my father died a few years later in the war. When we returned to Kumogakure, my father told me that we had to lie about what really happened on that day, and since it was just the two of us, keeping that secret was not very hard at all." explained Ei, causing Mabui's eyes to widen in surprise.

"W-what do you mean? Which part of the story is a lie exactly?" asked Mabui.

"The part were Kushina allowed the Kyubi to take over her and destroy half of our overall shinobi forces." said Ei bluntly.

"B-but I don't understand, if that isn't what happened, then what really happened to all those men and women?" asked Mabui, a look of utter confusion plastered on her facial features.

"The mission to capture Uzumaki Kushina was succesful, or at least, so we thought at the time..." the raikage trailed off thoughtfully, clenching his fists with emotions of anger and humiliation re-surfacing.

"We fought Uzumaki Kushina for seven hours straight, and eventually defeated and captured her. After the battle, she was unconscious and we travelled half the distance back to Kumo before setting up camp for the night. The next morning, Uzumaki Kushina woke up and requested to speak to me and my father." explained Ei, taking a deep breathe before continuing with his tale.

"What happened, what did she say?" asked Mabui.

"She didn't say anything, as soon as we got close to her, she started glowing brightly, a blinding bright red before everyone and everything was no more, Uzumaki Kushina had self-destructed and the explosion was so strong and corrosive, that even I and my father sustained severe injuries despite activating our respective lightning armors just before the explosion." explained the raikage, shocking his assistant to a more than significant degree, and confusing her even more so than she was shocked.

"I don't get it. If Uzumaki Kushina killed a whole batallion by supposedly self-destructing, shouldn't she have also died? I mean, how on earth did she give birth to the Uzumaki twins eight years down the line? And how did she produce an explosion powerful enough to destroy that many people and bypass yours and your father's armor? Your story doesn't make sense at all." asked Mabui with a disaproving and disbelieving tone to her voice.

"That is the thing, the person we captured wasn't Kushina at all, at least, not the real her. It was a blood clone in which she had sealed a large quantity of the Kyubi's chakra. Actually, it was an exploding blood clone, using the unstable and corrosive youki sealed inside of it to power up the explosion. You see, Kumo had tried to capture her even before that incident, when she was only nine and half years old, she never got over that first incident and anticipated that we would try again in the future. When she got deeply involved in the third shinobi war, she realised that the conditions had become ripe for us to use the choas, confusion, and destruction caused by the war to launch another abduction attempt. She also wanted revenge for the first incident, and so, conceived the idea for the blood clone explosion technique. She created the clone and the real her went into hiding, but she didn't just go into hiding. She was actually sending us anonymous tips about her clone's wherabouts and activities during the war, she posed as a mercenary shinobi and got us to pay her for the pin point accurate information that she was able to deliver. After confirming and cross-referemcing the accuracy of her info on many occasions, we had no choice but to believe the anonymous mercenary and we delivered the money to the various check points that she had instructed that the money be delivered to. Her info helped us to find a perfect opening to capture Kushina and we went all out to get her...we were fools!" said Ei angrily, a nasty snarl forming on his hardened features. .

To say Mabui was surprised would almost equate to saying that the raikage was fast, a complete understatement. It was very hard to believe that Kushina would go to such great lengths just to get revenge for almost being abducted, it wasn't like Kumo shinobi raped or tortured her or something like that, all they wanted was for her to help Kumo get stronger, nothing more that that. Sure, she could be bitter about it, but to go this far as to kill so many of their forces just because of that?

_'But then again, Kumogakure was involved with the annihilation of the Uzumaki clan, maybe that played its part in her actions.' _thought Mabui.

"So...um, how did you know that her jutsu was a blood clone, I've never even heard of such a jutsu before? And how did you know it was her that sent the anonymous tips to Kumogakure?" asked Mabui curiously, trying to make sense of the otherwise bizzare situation.

"She couldn't stop gloating about it when I and Killer Bee tried to capture her again four years later...that bitch!" cursed Ei.

"I see, and that mission was also a failure?" asked Mabui, although it was more of a statement more than a question really.

"Capturing someone is much harder than killing them, but you get the advantage when you are the one initiating the attack, because you get the planning and preparation time that your target doesn't get. Still, Kushina was no ordinary shinobi, she wasn't even an ordinary jinchuuriki, capturing her was harder than we thought it would be, despite the fact that we thought we didn't underestimate her. Her barriers and chakra chains provided her with a great advantage over us, she was also able to nearly keep up with my speed when she was using her eight tailed bijuu chakra cloak, while I was still faster than her, the gap in our speed was not big enough to give me a clear advantage, after all, the Kyubi's chakra cloak gives her an added advantage in terms of the number of limbs that she can use in battle. Still, we kept chipping away at her and never gave up, but, her relationship with the yellow flash had grown stronger over the years, strong enough that she trusted him enough to allow him to mark her with his jutsu formula. The battle went south when the yellow flash appeared and we were forced to abort the mission. I still think it was a blessing that the yellow flash arrived when he did though, the raikage's son and his brother being forced to retreat by a single kunoichi, Kyubi jinchuuriki or not, would have been a disgrace." explained Ei.

"I don't get it, why was it so hard to capture her, why didn't you use the sealing teapot?" asked Mabui.

"The sealing pot is easier to use against large targets, but Kushina never went full bijuu mode when we did battle with her, it can work on a smaller target of course, provided that the target does not have intel about the pot or the mechanics behind it, and, provided that the target doesn't have counter sealing techniques against it..."

"Ei-sama! Surely you don't mean...!"

"Yes, Uzumaki Kushina knew exactly what the teapot was, what it did, how it did it, and how to counter it. It shoudn't be a surprise really, the sealing pot was an Uzumaki clan heirloom in the first place, it was a spoil of war that we got our hands on when we teamed up with Kiri and Iwa to destroy Uzushiogakure." explained Ei.

"I see, so there was no way to capture her after all." said Mabui matter of factly.

"No, one of us would have probably had to die in order to capture her, and we would have failed whether one of us sacrifced themselves or not when the Yellow Flash arrived, fighting both of them at the same time was suicide." said the raikage.

"So, if we can't get the queen, then we go after her offspring, except, if yours and Yugito's story is anything to go by, then, the Uzumaki Naruto that Yugito has been manipulating so far is a mere blood clone, and the real Naruto is posing as his own twin brother. Also, the real Naruto is far more intelligent and advanced than his clone. But, what does this mean exactly? Wait a minute! There was a particular reason for you to take Killer Bee with you wasn't there! The real reason you took Killer Bee with you for the mission, was to use the bijuu communication link to verify if the Kushina you fought and captured was the real one unlike the previous encounter, makes sense I guess, the only question is, why did Naruto leave a blood clone in Konoha, and why did he join Otogakure no sato?"asked Mabui.

"I don't know, but probably, Konoha doesn't know about what Naruto did, I doubt they have any knowledge of what is really going on. Kushina didn't even tell Minato about what she did during the third shinobi war, her blood clone pretty much fooled everyone. And we didn't publicize the info either, we couldn't afford for our enemies to know that we had not only lost half of our shinobi forces, but that we had lost them to one kunoichi only. Basically, this means that Kushina must have secretly passed down the Uzumaki clan secrets to her son somehow, and probably a whole lot of other secrets as well. If he's a jonin right now, he must have escaped Konoha at least five years ago, or possibly even earlier, leaving behind his blood clone to act as a decoy. Quite clever I must admit, it must have been so much easier to hide and focus on getting stronger without worrying about hunter nin tracking him down." said the raikage.

"We should inform Yugito and Killer Bee immediately, she may have his clone eating out of the palm of her hand, but that means nothing if the real Naruto doesn't feel anything for her, he could detonate the clone and kill her, we can't let her die!" replied Mabui hysterically.

"Do you really think Naruto is going to kill Yugito, another jinchuuriki just like that? I doubt it, even a heartless witch like Kushina wasn't able to fight another jinchuuriki with true killing intent, and neither was Killer Bee able to fight at his best against her, there's a bond between jinchuuriki that goes beyond the bijuu communication link, also, add to that Yugito's proficiency in the art of emotional manipulation, I think she should be able to stop him from detonating the clone. Besides, I doubt he would want to use the clone explosion on Yugito alone, if Naruto and his clone's life in Konoha is anything to go by." said Ei cryptically.

"You mean...you think he plans to use the blood clone explosion to destroy Konoha?" asked Mabui.

"Precisely!" exclaimed the raikage elatedly, a satisfied smirk adopted on his facial features.

"I see, that wouldn't be so bad would it, the Yondaime Hokage's own son annihilating Konoha." replied Mabui with an evil smirk of her own.

"Yes, it wouldn't bad at all. You know what, I think I'm going to go to Konoha for the final round of the chuunin exams." said Ei, very much to Mabui's surprise.

"W-what! To do what exactly?" asked Mabui hysterically.

"I didn't tell you about this, but, the cifer division received a messenger bird from Konoha earlier about two hours ago. It was from the professor, or so called god of shinobi." said Ei dramatically.

"What did he want?" asked Mabui neutrally, simply refusing to be surprised by anything this man said anymore.

"He was informing us that he's going to send a Konoha contingent to negotiate a possible peace and alliance treaty. I think I'm going to accept his offer, it will give me less suspicious reason to be in Konoha I think." replied Ei.

"But why would you want to be in Konoha? And why would you need that excuse to be there, your brother's team will be participating in the exams, doesn't that more than justify your presence?" asked Mabui with a quirked eyebrow.

"Maybe, but I want some inside info. This alliance treaty is an obvious farce, if anything, Hiruzen is probably trying to use us for his and Konoha's own benefit. If I simply refuse the treaty, I won't be able to get close enough to Hiruzen to do what I really want to do."

"What you really want to do?" asked

"Yes, I'm going to refuse to negotiate with his lackeys, rather, I'm going to inform them to tell Hiruzen that I will only be negotiating in person. I will inform them that I will be in Konoha for the chuunin exam finals and that we will negotiate just before, during, or even after the final round of the exams."

"That does not say anything about what you really want to do." Mabui pointed out incredulously.

"Well, I want to kill him of course, and then I'll deal with the situation involving the Kyubi jinchuuriki depending on Yugito's progress at that point in time." explained Ei nonchalantly, almost as if talking about nothing but the mere weather forecast.

"I see, so you plan to use the chaos and confusion that Uzumaki Naruto's blood clone explosion is bound to create. It would be a brilliant idea, except, we don't really know for sure if there even will be a blood clone explosion or not."

"It doesn't matter if there is a blood clone explosion or not, something big is going to happen in Konoha anyway. Think about, why would a small and relatively unknown ninja village flaunt the Yondaime Hokage's son right in the middle of enemy grounds during an international event like the chuunin exams, in other words, before the eyes of the whole shinobi world?" asked the raikage retorically, causing Mabui's eyes to widen in realisation.

"Y-you're right, that almost sounds, or rather, looks like a declaration war, it's a shot at Konoha's pride!" Mabui exclaimed with realisation.

"It's also a declaration of intent, not only have this Otogakure publicly anounced themselves by participating in this year's chuunin exams, but anouncing the Uzumaki heir, who happens to be fathered by the yellow flash in the process? Clearly, these people have very high ambitions, if I had to make a guess, my guess would be that they are aiming to break into the big five, and they are planning to take down Konoha to do it. Personally, I don't care about their ambitions, but I do want to contribute to Konoha's destruction, and I also want the Kyubi."

"I don't like it, there are too many loopholes in this plan of yours, but I've known you long enough to know that there is close to nothing that I can do to stop you when you make your mind up about something like this." said Mabui with resignation.

"Hn, I will be taking Darui and C to serve as my bodyguards as usual, please inform them and make the neccessary preparations." ordered the raikage.

"The maximum number of bodyguards for the chuunin exams is four, you should take Dodai and I as well, you'll need all the manpower that you can get to pull off something like this..."

"Not a chance! We can't leave Kumo completely defenceless in our absence, You and Dodai are two of my most powerful shinobi in Kumogakure no sato, Kumo will need you to protect her in my absence. I'm leaving you in charge while I am gone, Dodai will be second in command. Do not worry about our numbers, have you forgotten that Yugito and B are also in Konoha?" asked the raikage.

"I-I see, I will do my best to protect Kumogakure in your steed, Ei-sama!"

"I expect nothing less, now, let us get the ball rolling, get a clean scroll and start drafting a letter of reply to Yugito, tell her everything that I just told you. When you're done, call in Dodai, C, and Darui, I want to adress them personally." said the Ei authoratively.

"Hai, raikage-sama!"

**The following day: Konoha...**

"Naruto nii-san, I heard about what happened yesterday, I...um...I just want you to know that uhhhh...i-if you need anything, anything at all, I'll always be there for you, and I um...I also speak for Moegi and Udon, I spoke to them yesterday and they wanted to wish you good luck for the exams." said Konohamaru awkwardly, trying and failing not to look concerned for his rival/friend/surrogate brother.

He is a ten year old boy with dark brown eyes raven, gravity defying and spiky hair, wearing a sleeveless blue top, dark blue shinobi sandals, and black shinobi pants with white tape around the ankles. Also, a wooden staff that can expand into a glider is placed on his back in a semi-horizontal position.

On his right hand side stood Hyuga Hanabi, a beautiful ten year old girl with shoulder length dark hair, cold, pupiless, and lavender eyes, and a lithe body, wearing only a dark blue, sleeveless top, sleeveless pants and sandals with no weapons pouch or weapon in site.

Standing on Konohamaru's left hand side was a 12 year old boy only known as Sai, with black hair, black eyes, and pale skin and a lithe body, wearing a short black top that leaves the lower half of his belly exposed, black pants, and black shinobi sandals.

The three of them had, together, missed everything that transpired the previous day, only hearing through the other rookies about Naruto's so called twin brother from Oto. What bothered them the most was how it happened almost right after they left Ichiraku's to go and practice a team sequence that they had been working on for the chuunin exams, this was something that was too big for them to hear from someone elses point of view when they could have had a first hand account of what happened.

Naruto knew that he couldn't blame Konohamaru for everything that happened to him, but he just wouldn't ever see the Sarutobi's the same way again after what Hiruzen did to him, in fact, he didn't think he could ever trust another Konoha shinobi ever again whether they were a Sarutobi or not. He and Konohamaru had been close friends, he would even go as far as saying they were brothers in everything but blood, after all, Konohamaru called him 'nii-san' and they did used to have the same 'jiji' up until recently.

However, unlike Konohamaru, Naruto didn't get any private lessons from 'jiji' or 'uncle Asuma', and he certainly didn't get any private tutors. Also, Konohamaru was never denied knowledge of his roots, and no ill intent towards him was even remotely tolerated, whereas Naruto was allowed to suffer a lot of psychological attacks and even physical ones on some rare occassions. Unlike Naruto, he was not deceived all his life and betrayed by the people he loved and trusted most, he was never alone and didn't have to raise himself, nor had he any idea what it was like to be hated by everyone as a growing child,basically, Konohamaru had no idea what true pain and suffering was. As far as Naruto was concerned, Konohamaru would never understant how he felt, he wouldn't understand why Naruto was planning to defect to Kumo, he wouldn't understand his bond with Yugito-chan and he certainly wouldn't understand why he hated Konoha as much as he did now. As far as he was concerned, Konohamaru was now no longer his rival, Konohamaru was now his enemy. Still, Naruto couldn't afford to publicly display his true-self just yet, if it were up to him, he would have told all of those bastards off every chance that he got, but he just couldn't get Yugito's words out of his head for some reason, probably because she made too much sense to be ignored whenever she spoke.

_Listen carefully Naruto-kun, believe it or not, you have made me by far the happiest woman in the world right now, I am very pleased with your decision to come back to Kumo with me, but...now that you have made that decision, you're going to have to be extra-careful. Normally, the natural response when people make a decision like the one you just made, is to start acting careless and reckless, this is because, they no longer feel obliged to, for lack of a better word, 'suck up' to anyone anymore because they think that it does not matter what people think of them anymore, since they are leaving anyway. This is the most common mistake that has been repeatedly made by various people throughout the ages, a mistake that you must actively force yourself not to make._

_The Konoha higher-ups were already watching your every movement like a hawk stalking its prey, they tightened that security even further when I befriended you, if you start cutting all ties with some of your so called friends and loved ones, they might do more than just tighten the security. Konoha would rather see you die than you at the hands of an enemy, to them, you're their ultimate weapon, one they can't afford to lose._

_Now I don't want you to worry too much about this, you're not just a weapon to me, you're the man I want to spend the rest of my life with. I won't let them hurt you, I will do everything in my power to make sure that does not happen, but I'm going to need you to play your part as well...don't act attactched to your Konoha aquintainces, but don't act detached or severe your ties with them either...just keep within character, they expect you to be quietly thoughtful, confused, hurt, and angry, make sure that is exactly what people see. Don't overdo anything, if you're too happy, they'll know something's wrong, if you're too spiteful and start shattering your bonds, they'll know you're about to leave and make thier move. _

_They won't make a definite move until they are absolutely sure they have lost you, that is why you have to keep them guessing until the end. All we have to do is to make sure they don't reach that conclusion until it is too late. Remember, you are the man I love, the man that I want to spend the rest of my life with, our love will conquer everything Naruto-kun, everything! _

_'Yugito-chan...I won't fail you, because I want to spend the rest of eternity with you too, you are the woman I love, the woman I will build a new life with, the woman who saved me from a life of ignorance, humiliation, pain, and suffering, you are my centre.' _thought Naruto with determination.

"Thank you, but...I don't need anything right now, besides, I have to be a man and handle this myself, I can't become Hokage and help everyone else if I can't even help myself, right?" replied Naruto.

"Um...right, I guess you have point there...ehehe ehehehe...!" said Konohamaru awkwardly, scratching the back of his neck with embarrassment, not quite sure really what to make of the situation. The words were not that much of a surprise, in fact, they were quite a characteristic response from Naruto, linking everything that happened to his life to his goal of becoming Hokage and all, but there was just something...off about how he said it. He wasn't sure if it was so, or if he was just being paranoid, but it almost felt like Naruto had just said that for the sake of saying it, like he didn't really give a damn about what he was saying, there wasn't the conviction and power behind his words that was usually almost tangible when Naruto expressed himself.

_'Maybe I'm just overeacting, Naruto nii-san has been thrown a few curveballs in quick succession, maybe I should back-off and give him time to find himself again.' _thought the sandaime hokage's grandson.

"..."

"..."

"..."

"O-okay, we'll meet you inside, wana hand in these exam forms quickly, so, we'll meet you again inside right?" asked Konohamaru.

"I would go with you, but I think I'll stay out here a little while, I want to go in with my teammates, they're not here yet." said Naruto simply. Off course, that was not the entire truth, yes, he was waiting for his teammates, Yugito told him that chuunin exams were about teamwork and that no two man or one man teams were ever allowed to participate in the history of the competition, so he knew that there would be no exams for him if one of his teammates didn't turn up. He was kinda pissed that once again, that bastard Kakashi almost made a fool out him, sick prick probably enjoyed messing with people's minds he supposed. Still, the person he was really waiting for wasn't Sakura or Sasuke, but none other than his own beloved Yugito.

She'd wanted for them to take their relationship to the next level last night, but after the revelations about his twin brother yesterday, making love, even to a beautiful and wonderful person like Yugito-chan, had been the last thing on his mind. He was just so angry, depressed, and confused that he didn't feel up to it, not because he didn't want to, but because he didn't want to disapoint his most precious person. He just didn't feel like it would be fare to her if he didn't give her his best efforts and undivided attention for their first time together.

Fortunately, he never had to explain that to her, it was almost like she read his mind, or maybe she was just a very kind, sensitive, and selfess person, because she was quick to realise that he would need time alone to sort everything out. So, they didn't make love last night, she didn't even sleep in his apartment, she told him that she would spend the night with Killer Bee and his genin team to give him some time to sort out his feelings, but not before showing him all the traps and alarm systems that she had set-up in and around his apartment in case Konoha authorities tried anything in her absence. She'd told him that she would be by his side in a heartbeat if someone triggered the alarm systems that she had set-up for his protection, forcing a strong sensation of warmth and happiness to spread throughout the very centre of Naruto's being despite the emotional turmoil that he'd been going through.

So she'd departed on good terms, but Naruto couldn't help but worry about her, she was patient and underdtanding with him, and she was taking so many risks for his sake alone, and he hadn't even tried to convince her to stay with him last night, in fact, just thinking about it, he was afraid that he might have given her the impression that he couldn't wait for her to leave. Needless to say, he felt horrible about himself, how could he treat her of all people like that, like she was a burden at a time when all she wanted was to be there for him. Wasn't this what he had always wanted, someone to not only acknowledge him as a human, but to understand and even love him?

And what was up with that stupid foreboding feeling at the pit of his stomach ever since he laid eyes on his twin brother. He couldn't deny that he was jealous of course, come on, the guy was the same age as he was but he was already an elite jonin in his village and he even had his own genin students already. He didn't think he'd ever felt so weak and useless before, he couldn't stop the poisonous venom that was jealousy from spreading all over his heart. He'd lashed out at his twin yesterday, blaming him for all his suffering and loneliness, demanding to know why he hadn't come to rescue him from his bullshit existence in Konoha, basically, blaming him for every horrible thing that happened in his life. While some of his rant was composed from genuine anger and feelings of betrayal, most of it was just a way to mask his jealousy and to vent his frustrations at his own weakness, using his brother as a convenient scapegoat, somewhat hypocritcally, concidering how much he resented the majority of the Konoha pupulation for doing just that.

Surprisingly, his brother didn't even refute his accussations, but rather, sincerely apologised for everything that he was accused off and even promised that everything would become clearer and better in the near future. Naruto didn't know what that meant exactly, but he knew that it wouldn't be too long before he found out, his brother said that he didn't want to be the reason for him losing concentration and dying in the chuunin exams, and therefore promised that he would clear everything up for him only at the end of chuunin exams, he said that they would be able to be together again like they were always meant to be when everything was cleared up.

Naruto didn't know why, but he was scared of that prospect for some reason he couldn't explain, to the point that he almost wished that nothing was cleared up at all, almost. There was just something weired about this whole situation, why did he feel like this, as if his whole world was about to come crashing down on him? He just wished Yugito-chan would arrive soon, if anyone could make everything better, it was her, she just had a way with him that no one else had, no one else would ever have, or so he thought.

_'Yugito-chan, where are you...?' _Naruto thoughts halted instantly when he felt the sharp edge of a kunai pricking slightly against his throat, slicing a small wound across his adam's apple, the blood leaking down his neck proof of the small wound that he couldn't see.

"You should be more mindful of your surroundings little brother. While frowned upon, killing is allowed in the chuunin exams. I'd hate to lose you so soon after waiting so long to see you again, premature deaths are never a good thing, especially for one with so much potential." whispered a voice similar to his own, albeit, a lot more even and somewhat softer than Naruto's own voice.

"A-arashi nii-san?" querried Naruto.

"Yes, little brother...?" asked Arashi innocently.

"W-what are you doing?" asked Naruto nervously, not sure what to make of this guy's creepy behaviour. He would have thought, since they were twins, that their personalities would be as closely identical as their physical traits, but this guy demeanor and attitude was vastly different from his own.

_'But then again, most jonin that I have met, except for Yugito-chan are all weidos.' _thought Naruto.

"Let go of him now or face the consequences!" ordered a feminine voice coming from the nearby forest.

Both twins turned their heads to right hand side just as Yugito walked out from behind large oak tree, walking towards the two identical blonde's with enticing class and elegance. She was a quite a site to behold, her feline aura, her curvaceous body, her elegant cat work, and the enticing swerve on her hips every time she took a step, really, Arashi did not really have to ask himself how his blood clone could be so taken by this woman's charms, she was something else.

"Of course, I would hate to anger the woman that has taken possession of my brother's heart, you know what they say, hell hath no fury like a woman scorned." said Naruto with a toothy grin, placing his kunai back into his weapon's pouch and backing away from his blood clone hastily. He didn't want to anger the nibi jinchuuriki, she was quite powerful, close to completely conquering the nibi's powers, one of the potential raikage candidates to succeed the Yondaime Raikage from what he'd heard. It's not that he was scared of her, he just didn't want to have to fight her because he knew he wouldn't be able to defeat her without revealing a lot of his secrets, besides, they were both in a forein country, and they were both jinchuuriki, a fight between them would destroy Konoha and possibly commence the fourth shinobi world war, it wasn't worth the risk...yet.

"Order your genin to enter the building and head to the jonin lounging room, I want to have a word with Naruto...alone." said Yugito evenly, now standing only a few metres away from the twin duo.

Naruto's head snapped almost 180 degrees around and his eyes widened only a split second later, because there, standing behind Arashi was what looked to be close to sixteen Oto shinobi, three of them were jonin kunoichi, of which one was that Yakumo girl that was with his brother yesterday, his girlfriend, if he wasn't mistaken. The rest looked like they were also genin, but he was shocked that so many people were able to sneak up on him like that. He'd almost immediately forgiven himself when his brother sneaked up on him, he was an elite jonin after all, but to find out that even the people he was supposed to be competing against were able to do it so effortessly was just damn unsettling.

"Alright, we'll talk later, little brother..."

"Kyaaah!" Arashi never got to finish what he wanted to say, being on the receiving end of a kick right between his legs on his baby makers from behind, causing him to double over in pain with a girlish scream.

"Aaaaargh! You bitch, what the hell!" roared Arashi furiously. If he was trying to be intimidating, than he surely failed with an F or even G grade, because a boy screaming like a girl while rolling around on the dirt with his hands between his legs looked anything but intimidating.

"Arashi no baka-sensei! How dare you allow yourself to get bossed around by that Kumo bitch you selfish bastard! What do you think that says about the rest of us you idiot!" screamed Amaru right at his face.

"That's not reason to annihilate my propective sons and daughters!" Arashi snapped.

"Oh my goodness just look at em, hehe, I can't even seperate sensei from student at this point." said Guren, mocking her boyfriend's childish behavior light heartedly.

"That's why women are better at raising children, I mean, have you ever heard of a single father raising kids successfully? No, of course not, I mean how could they when they still need a good woman to take care of their needs too." said Suzumebachi, eyes glittering with amusement as she watched the comic scene unfolding in front of her.

"I feel sorry for him, Amaru is not the most level headed of people, she also has a lot of deep rooted issues from her upbringing that she still has yet to overcome." Yakumo responded with her usual stoic demeanor.

"Your stupid balls don't mean shit to me at the moment..."

"Amaru! Those testicles may not mean anything to you, but they mean the world to Arashi-kun and I. If I ever see you doing something like that again..." warned Yakumo with a deadly tone, staring the Reibi's vessel with malicious intent.

"That goes for me too!" said Guren.

"And me three, you'll have a lot to answer for if we can't conceive Arashi-kun's babies because of you!" added Suzumebachi.

_'Conceive his babies, all three of them? What's going on here?' _thought Yugito with a confused expression.

"I...I understand! Please forgive me!" stuttered a horror stricken Amaru, shaking with fear as if she had just seen a ghost.

"Good, now, I want you and your teammates to head into the exam building or whatever they call it, you only have twenty minutes before the exams proceed. You should arrive early so that you can scout out your opposition." ordered Suzumebachi.

"H-hai, Suzumebachi-sensei!" exclaimed Amaru a little too eagerly, hoping to get away from three of the most dangerous kunoichi in the elemental nations, two of which she thought to be batshit crazy.

"That goes for my students and the rest of you too. We won't wish you good fortune or anything like that, that would only mean that we were worried about your wellbeing. Trust me when I say this, we're not in anyway concerned, you're all talented and we have trained you well, the only thing we will do is to congratulate you when you have won this competition. Now go!" ordered the Kamizuru heiress militantly.

"Hai sensei!" exclaimed the Oto genin contingent as they hurriedly scrambled themselves away from the volatile group of teachers, strangely, or maybe not so strangely with heads held high with pride and confidence, each and every one of them able to read between the lines of Suzumebachi's rant, moved by the fact that she was able to acknowledge their hard work and shinobi prowess even when she was in such a foul mood.

"Come Arashi-kun, we should go to the jounin lounge and relax, I can't wait to hear what the Hokage will say when the two of you meet." said Guren as she helped the blonde Uzumaki to his feet.

_'Can't wait to hear what the Hokage has to say? At the jonin lounge? I see...' _thought Yugito with realisation, finally understanding a little more as to why the Arashi had declined the Hokage's invitation for a private conversation at his office yesterday, when the Hokage's personal A.N.B.U guard had aproached the blonde haired enigma at Ichiraku's.

_'He wanted to force the Hokage to meet him in a public place where he wouldn't be able to say or do anything without anyone from Oto and other ninja villages seeing or overhearing the conversation. But the only reason he would antagonize and even disrespect the Hokage like he did only validates what Raikage-sama theorized, that he has no loyalties to Konoha and doesn't give a damn what they think of him because he intends to destroy them anyway...and that...that Naruto-kun really is an explosive blood clone and Arashi is the real Naruto...!" _thought Yugito with mixed emotions of anger, frustration, embarrassment, and even heartache and dispair, not entirely willing to accept the prospects of all her efforts so far turning out to be completely pointless.

"Little brother, we didn't get a chance to talk properly yesterday, and it seems we won't be able to talk properly until the end of the exams. Don't go dying too soon though, I haven't waited all these years just for you to die in some stupid exam." said Arashi with a taunting smile.

"Tche...! As if I'd die and leave Yugito-chan all alone!"exclaimed Naruto confidently.

_'Heh...he seems happier than I thot he would be, but than again, he does seem to have found a precious person who has given him a sense of purpose. Pity that I'll have to break her heart when the truth comes out...but than again, I might be able to use this thing my clone has with this woman to my advantage. I just have to figure out how...' _thought Naruto with a sinister smirk.

_'We're going to be sharing a lounge with the some of Konoha, Kumo, and Suna's elite jonin, with the prospect of the Hokage also joining us. Rather focus on that for now instead of whatever it is that you seem to have planned out for Nii Yugito. That jonin lounge will be a very dangerous place.' _Yakumo suggested, using the communication link between her and Naruto that she created with her mind tranfer techniques since they were still Otogakure genin.

_'You're right. Thanks Yakumo-chan.' _replied Naruto, the two walking hand in hand on their way to the jounin lounge.

**End Of Chapter**

**Next chapter will be titled: Amaru vs Rock Lee.**

**Thanks for reading.**


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